As It Consumes Us
by MistPhoenix
Summary: Searching for a reason to keep on surviving in a world run by the dead, Skye comes across the group led by Rick Grimes. Though desperately trying to keep from getting too close to anyone, her walls slowly begin to crumble as she develops relationships with members of the group. They eventually are torn down by someone who is more like her than she had originally believed. Daryl/OC
1. Exchange

Death hung heavy in the air, mingling with fear and soft groans that never seemed to cease. They now lived in a never-ending nightmare. Moans that echoed from the city outside were a constant reminder of the reality they had so quickly slipped into. Icy blue eyes darted around the room taking in their surroundings. The room seemed to suck the very life from every soul in here. Not a single speck of color could be seen. All the walls, once white, were now a shade of gray except for a few remaining white squares where pictures had once resided. To the left was one of two windows in the room. Even though it was wide open, not a single bird could be heard, no bustling of civilians trying to get to work, no horns blaring at pedestrians making their way across the street…nothing. Nothing but a soft breeze making the curtains billow around the individual sitting next to it. Nothing is as it was. However, the people here did their best to hold onto what had been. They go about their daily routine as if nothing had happened. Ironically, the place they had once viewed as a prison was now their sanctuary. It was the one thing keeping them alive, protecting them from the horrors that now prowled the streets. Now that death walked about outside they held onto this place, held onto each other. But she was not part of them. She was on her own, no matter how many times they told her she was one of them now. Her eyes fell to the pendant that now wove in and out of her fingers. A reminder of how alone she really was and how cruel this world had become. It was her reminder to not get too close, not to anyone. Her mind began to wander as her eyes stared deep into the stargaze lily decorating the stones surface.

"Skye!"

Her head jolted upwards meeting the gaze of the group's leader, Guillermo, and she returned the necklace to her jacket pocket. Raising her eyebrows, she waited.

"They're here! Come now. They have him!" To another member of the group who had been keeping watch on an Asian guy that they had taken hostage, "Take him to the roof! Hurry!" Turning on his heels, he took off back the way he had came.

With a sigh, Skye swung her boots from where they rested on the table and took her time following him out the glass doors.

:::::::::::::::::

As Skye approached the entrance to the headquarters, she could hear that the party had already started without her. Guillermo was already outside going back and forth with a man with a Southern accent that despite the urgency in his voice was surprisingly soothing to her. She pushed past some of the other members and stepped out into the sunlight next to Felipe, whom she noticed was holding a white rag on his backside. She saw the man G was talking to and he wore a Sheriff's uniform and now had a gun pointed straight at Guillermo. Behind him was a boy she recognized to be Felipe's cousin and a scruffy man who stood close behind with his crossbow backing up the Sheriff.

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion," the Sheriff stated.

Guillermo got a serious look on his face, "That hillbilly jumps Felipe's cousin, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion." There was a hint of shock in his voice. Felipe shifted uneasily on her left as he craved revenge. "You fascinate me," G continued.

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made." With a nod, the Sheriff added, "On both sides."

Understanding, Guillermo moved on. "Who's that dude to you anyways? You two don't look related." He nodded towards the guy wielding the crossbow.

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him," he gave a suggestive look towards Felipe, making Skye smirk. Felipe was known for being quite the hothead. Skye looked up to see the other man hadn't taken his eyes off of her since she made her appearance, but that quickly changed.

"You got my brother in there?" The man had finally joined in, not bothering to lower his crossbow.

"Sorry. Fresh outta white boys. But I got Asian. Interested?"

"I have one of yours. You have one of mine. Sounds like an even trade," said the Sheriff.

"Don't sound even to me," G stated, receiving many pleas from the young one and a stern look from Skye. Her eyes narrowed at the way he was handling this. This should be simple. Shaking her head, she spun around and headed back inside not wanting to see how this played out. Passing by the men of the group, she muttered, "Bargaining with a kids life. Pathetic."

:::::::::::::::::

Skye watched from her corner as a group formed around Marco, one of the inhabitants of the nursing home, as he struggled for breath. She had decided to stay out of the way and just sat back. Felipe has rushed in to the rescue with an inhaler, pushing past the Asian boy who stood nearby hoping the old man got that relief of air to his lungs. Movement at the entrance caught her attention as Guillermo walked in followed by the men from before. Her eyes stayed glued to them as they regrouped with the Asian.

After a moment, one of them exclaimed, "We thought you was being eaten by dogs, man!" The four men and Skye looked down at three Chihuahua's barking from their plush bed on the floor. A smile played across her lips at the thought of those being the vicious dogs they had imagined. The men headed for an empty room off to the right of her and as they walked past she saw the Sheriff had a bag full of weaponry that she assumed was the bag from the street. She kept trying to read them, to judge what kind of men they really were, but nowadays that's near impossible. Everyone has either changed or puts up a front to make it seem that they have come out as a badass. All too scared to let their walls down, to feel vulnerable. She got the feeling the Sheriff was a good man, a good leader. He seemed to have the respect of the other members that he traveled with. The Asian boy was quiet, at least while at the nursing home, and he seemed unsure of himself, but who isn't. It was the man who now stood in the doorway stealing glances at her that intrigued her most. Sure, he seemed to be the asshole of the group but there was something about him, something in his eyes that she felt she could relate to.

Daryl stared out at the girl he had seen outside when they had first arrived. She had caught him off guard. The way the sun had hit her revealing the deep auburn tones of her hair, which was held back by a black headband and her crystal blue eyes radiating despite the pain that she had been through shining out through them. She was clad in all black leather that clung to her figure making him wonder how she could even move. There was something that urged him to go talk to her. He chewed on his lip, confused on where these feelings were coming from. Just as his eyes met hers the others were ready to go and as quick as they had came they were gone.

In that instant her mind was a whirlwind and without thinking it through, she jumped from her seat. Without so much as a goodbye, she was gone.


	2. Reverie

Litter decorated the road leading away from the city, the groans of the dead slowly fading away. Skye crept along darting from car to car following closely behind the four men ever since they left the nursing home. She didn't really know why she didn't announce herself, but she believed it was for the best. How did she know these men wouldn't shoot her on sight? Well, she had a feeling in her gut that they wouldn't. Not much to go on and it was something that had led her astray in the past but certainty was a luxury. Truth be told, she had seen the bag of guns they had arrived with and couldn't help but notice that when they left it carried only half of what had originally been in there. It took a real man to give up half of his weapons to a complete stranger just to give them more of a fighting chance. In the short period of time she had been there she saw how good of a man Guillermo truly was and for the Sheriff to acknowledge too… well that said something for his character.

As she focused on the men ahead, she failed to see the oilcan that had been abandoned next to the car she was hiding behind. The tip of her boot caught it, knocking it over with a clang. Instinctively, she dropped to one knee, taking cover. Cautiously, she peered through the driver side window to where the men stood looking behind them for the cause of the noise. Quickly, she looked around behind her to make sure the noise hadn't attracted a stray walker. In the clear, she returned her gaze to the men but was shocked to see they were no longer there. Her breath caught in her chest and she stood up only to have a hand slam onto her shoulder. The world around her became a blur as she was spun around and slammed up against the car finding she was now up close and personal with a crossbow. The redneck now had his arm pressed against her chest pinning her against the car door while the other three stood right behind him. Taking a couple steps closer, the Sheriff cocked his head to the side at her.

"I saw her back at the nursing home," the redneck said with narrowed eyes.

"Why are you following us?"

She looked past to the Sheriff to respond. "I- I was hoping you would let me come with you."

"Why!?" The rednecks arm pressed harder into her chest.

"I couldn't take it there anymore. Just had to get out. My reasons are my own." She ignored the glare she was receiving from him and looked back to the Sheriff, hoping he wouldn't press the subject.

"So you turn your back on your people? Why would we risk you doing that to us and out people?"

"My people? They weren't my people. I just kinda ended up there. I didn't even know anyone's name except for G and Felipe. Didn't bother to ask and I didn't give mine."

"Which is?" Rick questioned.

"Skye."

"Skye?" The redneck scrunched his face up.

"Yeah. It's what they called me there," she replied.

"Is that even you're real name?" He was getting snippy, but the Sheriff just stared back at her, obviously trying to decide whether to allow her to come or not.

"No. I don't know you guys and sorry but giving you my real name is a little too personal for me right now considering everything," she said matter-of-factly receiving yet another glare from the redneck.

He leaned in even closer to her face so that he was mere inches away. "Now listen here, we don't-"

"Daryl," the Sheriff interrupted. He put a hand on the crossbow, making the other man lower it. He held his other hand out to Skye. "Well, I'm Rick Grimes. This is T-Dog, Glenn and this is Daryl." He gestured to the redneck. Her eyes stared deep into his deep indigo eyes, watching as they tried to figure her out. "Now," he started. "How can we trust you enough to take you back to our people?"

"I overheard you talking to Guillermo. You said that you just joined this group. How did they know to trust you?"

Rick knew she had a point. Glenn had risked his life to save him.

Noticing the wheels turning in Rick's head, Daryl threw his hands up. "You can't be serious!?"

"Daryl we can't just leave her," Glenn stated.

"Like hell we can't," Daryl argued.

Rick never took his eyes from her. "You armed?" She reached down to reveal two handguns strapped to her thighs. "Okay, you can come."

Daryl dropped his arm from her chest in defeat. It was obvious he didn't want her to come and she could understand why. He didn't know anything about her, but she deserved a chance to prove herself. She was going to make damn sure he was there when that happened.

Looking up from the pavement they now traveled down she looked straight into Daryl's back as he huffed and puffed in front of them. About ten minutes had passed when they heard two gunshots pop off and the men tensed up knowing where they had come from. Without hesitation they took off in the direction the sounds had originated from and she hustled to keep up with them. Screams echoed through the air barely masking the groans of walkers. Her stomach clenched as she saw the camp was overrun. Following behind Daryl, who was now firing a shotgun, she whipped her pistols from their holsters at her sides just in time to fire at a walker lunging right for her. It fell to her feet and she leapt over it to fire at another chasing after a little girl. To her right a woman was pinned to the ground, struggling to keep the walker's biting jaw at bay. Skye jumped onto the walker pulling it from the woman and slamming it onto it's back. With her pistol under its chin, she pulled the trigger.

All that could be heard now was the soft sound of sobs and whispers of people checking their loved ones. Everyone was jumbled but one woman in particular was a wreck. Skye's heart dropped as she saw a blonde woman crying while leaning over a girl, rubbing her hair back from her face. Clearly the girl had been bitten and now laid there gasping for breath. There was a slight resemblance between the two and Skye averted her eyes, feeling a slight burning sensation building up in them. As the last breath escaped through the young girl's lips, the cries from the blonde intensified while onlookers held onto loved ones, realizing how lucky they were. Rick being one of them now clung to who Skye assumed was his wife and son. Bodies were scattered all around the camp. Sadly, she noticed that a lot of them had been human when they died. This group had just suffered a tremendous loss.

A man in flannel standing to her left scanned over the group and said, "I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes." His words made her skin crawl. What had she gotten herself into?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

While the group mourned their dead, Skye did a quick check of the woods for any walkers left staggering around. The last thing these people needed right now was another surprise attacker. She came back out of the woods just in time to see a hatchet slam down into the head of a body lying in her path. Daryl was taking care of the bodies with T-Dog's help.

"Maybe this isn't the right time, but who the hell is she?" Skye looked over to the campfire a dark-haired man sitting on a log bench, elbows resting on his knees.

"She was with a group we ran into in Atlanta," Rick answered.

"A group?" the dark-haired man asked with curiosity.

"About thirty men and elderly folk taking shelter in a nursing home. There was a bit of a misunderstanding and we had to deal with it."

"Oh, Rick," his wife breathed out with a hand on her chest. "You didn't kill them, did you?"

He looked at her with disbelief. "Of course not."

"We can't just keep bringing in strays, Rick. We have enough mouths to feed as it is. You were an exception for obvious reasons," the man said while eyeing Skye. He was starting to get on her nerves.

"See? I told ya didn't I?" Daryl piped up as he shoved the hatchet down into another body.

"I will not leave anyone behind. If they're human, I can't do it. I don't have it in me," Rick fought back.

Skye finally spoke up. "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble. I can make it on my own."

"No one is going to let you leave alone," Rick held his hand up to her.

"Why not? You heard the girl. She can make it on her own. Let her." Daryl jerked his hand towards the woods. She just glared at him. What was his problem?

"Ain't right," Rick ran a hand through his chestnut hair.

"No one is going to make her leave, Rick. Jus' sayin' we can't keep doin' this. We have to think of our own. All it takes is one wrong person to slip in. Think of Lori and Carl. We just lost a lot of people last night. Could you handle it if it had been one of them? I wouldn't want that on my hands."

"Shane, enough" Lori warned.

Changing his attention to Skye, Shane said, "If you're going to stay with us here you need to pull your own. No one is here to take care of ya. And if you're here, you're here. Part of the group. I don't want anything bad going down because you go playin' lone wolf. We have enough of that as it is." He shot a look at Daryl, who waved away the comment. "Ya hear me?"

She nodded in agreement.

Keeping his eyes on her, he addressed the group. " Now… what're we going to do about…" He jerked his head towards the blonde still lying with the young girl. Everyone gathered in closer so she wouldn't hear.

Lori was the first to speak up. "Just leave her be."

"Were they- um, related?" Skye managed to choke out.

"Sisters," Lori answered her. It was what she was afraid of and it made air catch in her throat.

"Ya'll can't be serious? Let her hamstring us? That dead girl's a time bomb."

Skye knew Daryl was right, but couldn't even begin to think of what would be the best way to handle it.

"What d'you suggest?" Rick placed his hands on his hips, waiting.

Taking two steps toward Rick, Daryl leaned in. "Take the shot. Clean in the brain from here. Hell I could shoot a turkey between the eyes from this distance." The way Daryl was so gun-ho about the job made Skye uneasy.

"No." All eyes went to Lori. Sitting down she said, "For God sakes, let her be." For a few moments everyone just stood there. But Daryl turned to go.

"Time to pull some of your weight," he said as he walked past Skye. "Wake up, Jimbo. We got some work to do." The man he had spoken to was the man who had been talking about his dream. Coming to life, he walked over to Skye and they got to work.

Lifting a walker's legs, she asked, "Is he always like that?"

"Who Daryl?"

She nodded.

"Been like that ever since I met him. Who knows what he was like before everything went to shit though. Only person who knew him then was his brother, Merle. But you won't get the chance to ask him." She looked over to see Daryl was getting yelled at by Glenn about how their people weren't to be burnt.

"Walkers get him?" More sibling trouble. Figures.

"Oh, um – no he's still alive. Just lost."

"Lost?" They tossed the corpse onto the pile waiting to be burned.

"Oh."

Daryl helped another man move a body to the row of fallen members. Dropping the body he hollered, "Reap what you sew."

"Man, come on," the man he had been helping pleaded.

"Ya'll left my brother for dead. Ya'll had this comin'." And with that he stormed off. His words echoed through her head causing some worry to burst in her.

Jim dropped the legs of the corpse they were carrying to help another woman leaning over one of the bodies. Suddenly, the woman stood up and yelled.

"A walker got him." She pointed accusingly at Jim, shaking. In a matter of seconds, a circle had formed around Jim as everyone tried to spot the bite mark. Skye took a few steps back. Knocking her in the shoulder as he passed, Daryl walked up to Jim shovel in hand.

"Show it to us."

Instead of doing as he was asked, Jim reached down and snatched a shovel of his own. Shane stepped closer. "Easy, Jim."

"Put the shovel down," Daryl demanded.

While Jim was distracted by Shane and Daryl, T-Dog wrapped his arms around him from behind making it easy for Daryl to lift his shirt to reveal the ugly truth. And there it was. The bite mark, bright red, made everyone's heart sink.

As if it was more for his self than the group, Jim kept repeating, "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay."

Dropping the shirt, Daryl backed away from Jim, leaving him standing alone in the center of the circle. All eyes were on him. This was something Skye could tell the group had not yet had to face. They seemed fine with killing a walker, but dealing with someone who was bitten and still alive was a whole other ball game.

Daryl chewed on his cheek knowing what had to be done and no one was going to like it.


	3. Tempest

Skye had retreated to the woods after witnessing the blonde she came to know as Andrea had to kill her own sister. It was too much for her and needed to be alone. The girl had come back as one of the undead. It was something no one should have to see happen to a loved one, but Skye understood why Andrea couldn't get herself to take care of it before that moment. It's as if you need to see it happen to get it in your head that it is no longer the same person but instead a monster. Everyone dreads it, but somehow that's how it always ends up happening. Thoughts of her own past flooded her mind and she reached down to pick up a rock peeking out from under some leaves. It fit perfectly in her palm, the surface smooth and cool to the touch. Her knuckles were white as she tightened her grip on the stone as frustration began to build inside her. With a swift motion she hurled the rock at a nearby tree scattering birds from their home amongst the branches. She realized she had been holding her breath. Letting it out, something inside her broke and she fell to her knees as a vision of bright green eyes and blonde hair flashed in her mind. A single tear escaped as she closed her eyes tight trying to keep from shedding any more. There was a snap of a twig behind her and she whirled around drawing her weapon only to find she was pointing it up at Daryl.

Holding his hands up in surrender he said, "Easy now. Was just coming to take a leak. Saw you fall. Everything okay?"

"Just fine," she snapped, annoyed by being caught in her vulnerable state. She returned her weapon to its holster.

"Fine then," he scowled. "Didn't really care anyways. Just don't need you tryin' anything funny or attractin' anymore walkers."

As he turned to leave she said, "Wait." She stood up and he looked over his shoulder at her. Nervously, she rubbed the back of her neck. "Thank you." He didn't move. "So… do we know if we're leaving yet?"

"Rick kept pushin' the CDC. Think we're goin' there."

She nodded understanding why Rick would want to try it despite everyone's protests. He had hope. It was a powerful thing.

"Now come on. We need to be hitting the road soon," he urged and she she followed him out of the woods to meet up with the others.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: **

Shane had insisted she ride in the jeep with him, which had her very suspicious. He had given her every reason to believe he didn't like her and this made her worry even though he said it was to keep an eye on her. But despite her worries he didn't say anything negative to her at all during their ride. It was quite the opposite. He just made some small talk asking questions, most of which she didn't feel comfortable answering about her past. Afterwards they rode in silence. The wind on her face was an amazing feeling. Closing her eyes, she imagined she was flying. Flying away from this troubled world. Her hair swirled in the wind carelessly. Opening her eyes she saw Shane was staring over at her but returned his eyes to the road once he was caught.

"I told ya we'd never get far on that hose."

Dale and Rick in front of the smoking Winnebago. Daryl paced chewing on his bottom lip as he listened to the men discuss what they could do to fix it. Skye sat in the Jeep with her legs hanging out the door, watching from afar.

"I see something up ahead. Gas station if we're lucky," Shane observed through his binoculars.

"Ya'll, Jim. It's bad," Jacqui alerted the group. "I don't think he can't take anymore." Breathing deeply, she returned to the Winnebago.

"Hey, Rick, you wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead. See what I can bring back."

Rick nodded to Shane.

"Yeah, I'll come along, too. And I'll back ya up," T-Dog offered.

Rick made his way to head into the Winnebago to check on Jim.

"Ya'll keep your eyes open now. And we'll be right back." Shane headed towards the Jeep with T-Dog in tow. As he drew closer to the Jeep he looked to Skye. "You coming little one?"

Swinging her legs back into the Jeep she agreed to go along. She felt the Jeep shake and looked back to see T-Dog had jumped into the back. Daryl watched surprised as Skye disappeared down the road with Shane and T-Dog.

Shane had floored it and they arrived at their destination in no time. It was, in fact, a gas station; however, a cardboard sign bounced off the pumps. Written on it were the words, 'No Gas!'.

"We may be able to find a radiator hose around here. I'll look in the garage. Skye you go look to see if you can find some food or something."

She highly doubted she was going to have any luck with finding food, but went in anyway. As she expected, the shelves all stood empty and the refrigerators were bare. Heading behind the counter she began rifling through all the drawers. With a shove she moved the cash register out of the way not even bothering with all the money inside. Nowadays, it was worthless. A box of cigarettes sat covered in dust from where it had gotten pressed up behind the register. She shoved them into her pocket and grabbed a plastic bag she found under the counter. Heels of her boots clicking on the tiled floor, she made her way down the hallway where she stopped in front of a wooden door with a sign that read, 'Women'. Her fingers brushed the cold metal of her gun, ready to grasp onto it if anything jumped out from behind the bathroom door. With a deep breath and a swift kick, the door flew back, slamming into the stone wall. It was clear. Relaxing a bit, she walked in and found what she was looking for. The metal box still hung on the wall completely intact. Smiling to herself she hurried to the garage where she saw Shane throwing stuff over his head while he searched for the part they desperately needed. Mumbling to himself, he didn't even notice her come in, grab a crowbar off of a nearby workbench and leave. Grasping the crowbar in both hands, she slammed the end into the crease of the box as hard as she could. Feeling that it was in far enough she began prying at it, trying to break it open. It wasn't budging. Throwing all her weight against the crowbar she finally felt it give with such force she nearly face planted against the wall. The crowbar fell from her fingers with a clank onto the floor and she began throwing all the boxes contents into the plastic bag. She saw feminine products, aspirin, mouthwash, Midol… Sure they were the small travel size single serve packs, but she couldn't be picky. It was something, and there were quite a few of each of them. Proud of her finding she left the building with a smile on her face. Shane was standing by the Jeep with a pretty used looking radiator hose in hand.

He saw her give the hose a look and said, "Dale's going to have to make do with this for now."

T-Dog came around the corner with a six-shooter in his hand. "Found this. Some guy, I'm guessing the owner, was around back. Looked like he shot himself before the geeks could get him. Has five bullets." He turned it over in his hand. They all climbed into the vehicle.

"Good deal," Shane mused, starting the engine. He jerked the steering wheel, facing them in the right direction and they were off.

When they got back to the group, Skye watched as the others discussed Jim's fate. While they were gone, he told Rick he would like to be left here. He wanted to be with his family. From their body language, Skye could tell they didn't feel right about carrying out his wishes but would respect them. She watched them as they brought him from the RV and laid him gently against a tree. They all crowded around him to say their goodbyes. After Dale said his, the others slowly backed away, heading to their cars, but one stayed behind. Daryl stood, not moving and eyes locked onto Jim. They exchanged understanding looks before Daryl slowly followed the others. Skye watched him as he walked past where she sat in the Jeep towards his truck. Up ahead of her she saw Shane trudging along towards her. Taking a risk she jumped from her seat and ran towards the back of the caravan. Daryl was walking around the front of his powder blue pickup when she stopped him.

"Daryl?'

"Yeah, what?" he asked, irritation evident.

She gulped wondering if this was a mistake. "It okay if I ride with you?" He was clearly thinking it over.

"No." He continued to the driver side door, but stopped and saw the way she looked at Shane with unease. With an annoyed sigh, he yanked his door open. "Get in," he said while slipping into his seat.

She was shocked to hear him change his mind and jumped in before he could take it back. The engine roared to life just as she pulled her door shut.

They rode on without exchanging a single word. Never having been much of a talker, now more than ever, so this wasn't something that bothered Skye. It was her way of preventing people from getting too close, not just for her sake but for theirs as well. Not letting people in would just make it easier for everyone in case she got eaten or whatever. Plus, she got the feeling he wasn't much of a talker either. It wasn't until about forty-five minutes down the road that she decided to break the silence.

His brow knitted together as he focused on the road. But she took a deep breath. "We kinda got off on the wrong foot." He didn't say anything but looked over at her wondering where she was going with this. "I know people really aren't happy about me being here and that Rick is probably the reason why I got to stay. I get it, really. I know they're just too ashamed to admit it. Makes things kind of uncomfortable. You, on the other hand, have been pretty up front about not wanting me to be around. Made it pretty clear and-"

He cut her off, "Is there a point to this rambling or are you just trying to piss me off?"

"What I was going to say was," she paused. "Thank you."

He looked over at her confused.

"You're the only one, other than Rick, that's been completely honest with me. Just appreciate it is all." She could tell her gratitude was making him slightly uncomfortable.

"What about Shane? Said you didn't have to leave."

"Yeah, but I can tell he wishes I wouldn't have. Plus, he keeps giving me weird looks. To be honest, he kind of freaks me out," she laughed.

"And I don't?"

"No." She looked at him questioningly. "Why would you?"

He just looked over at her. Daryl found it hard to believe that this girl was freaked out by Shane and not by him. Most people are scared of him. Yet, even with how much he said he was against her being there, his yelling, and even trying to kill Jim, she wasn't. _Why would you?_ Her words repeated themselves in his head and his eyes focused on the passing trees.

"So," she began again. "Can we start over?"

This girl puzzled him. Why would she even care about starting over with him? His eyes met hers.

"Please."

Nodding his head, he gave in. "Sure, fine. Whatever."

"Okay, then." A smile spread on her face and she patted her leg, happy with herself. Trees flew past them in a blur and she thought back to what he had said back at the camp before they had left.

"I'm sorry about your brother."

Daryl's muscled tensed up at the mention of the elder Dixon.

"I'm sure you'll run into him again. Family has a way of finding each other. You said they left him to die?"

"Yeah. Bastards handcuffed him to a roof in Atlanta and just left him there. Merle's tough though. Toughest man I ever knew. Even cut off his own hand."

Skye grimaced at the thought.

"I'm sorry."

After a long pause, Daryl looked back into her eyes. Softly he said, "Thanks."

She smiled back at him and for a split second she saw a different side of Daryl. She wondered if his tough guy attitude was all an act, a façade to hide away all his vulnerabilities.

Clearing his throat, Daryl changed the subject. "So why did the Mexicans call you Skye anyway?"

"Guillermo said it was my eyes. Said they reminded him of the sky. That they 'shone bright like the sunniest of days'." She laughed remembering Guillermo telling her this in the courtyard of the nursing home and at the look on Daryl's face. "Cheesy, I know." But her smile fell and she looked into the side mirror of the truck. "But now… they just look cold. I don't see the bright blue sky he spoke of." She stared sadly out the window, but Daryl saw what she was talking about. Her eyes looked more like the sky during a storm, a thunderstorm raging on inside of her. They rest of their journey was traveled in silence.

**Hello, everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please, please, please feel free to review this for me. It's my first fanfic and would reallllly appreciate some feedback. **


	4. Deliverance

A sea of rotting corpses was there to greet them as they climbed from their vehicle. They all looked around cautiously at the military vehicles crowding the landscape looming before the giant glass building of the CDC. Soldiers and civilians were spread on the pavement making it appear as if a war had taken place. Everyone covered their faces the best they could from the horrid smell of rotting flesh and the flies that feasted on it. Carefully they stepped over and around the bodies, afraid one might not be completely dead. All it would take is a second for one to reach up and bite an ankle. It would be all over. They finally reached the doors, but were disappointed to see that they were sealed off by shutters. Shane helped Rick try to lift them open but with no success. Shane beat on the door with his gun.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog announced.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick said, voice full of hope.

Daryl turned around and hollered, "Walkers!"

Skye spun on her heels and saw a walker in military uniform stalking toward them, but within seconds he had an arrow in his head and fell to the ground with a thud. The children cried from the fear of being eaten alive as soon as they had arrived at heir destination, and the men of the group began to argue amongst themselves. Daryl pointed a finger at Rick, blaming him for bringing them here.

"He made a call," Shane defended Rick, marching towards Daryl aggressively.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl continued.

"Shut up!"

Daryl stood defensively even as Shane was up in his face, shoving him backwards.

"You hear me! Shut up! Shut up!" Shane's face was bright red from yelling. Turning to Rick he said, "Rick, this is a dead end!"

"Where are we going to go?" Carol cried.

"There has to be someone in there!" Skye yelled, taking Rick's side.

"Are you hearing' me? No blame," Shane ignored the others and tried to get Rick's attention.

"Carol's right. We can't be this close to the city after dark," Laurie stated, scared out of her mind.

Skye tuned the others out and stared up at the camera. Standing her ground even as the others began to run back to the caravan. Someone tugged at her arm trying to pull her along.

"Come on, girl! We've got to go!" It was Shane

Her eyes widened as the camera began to move.

"It moved," she said under her breath. "Rick, it moved!"

"The camera!" Rick held his hand up to the others. "It moved!"

Everyone froze and looked to him.

"You imagined it," Dale said in disbelief.

"No, he didn't I saw it, too!" Skye defended.

"It moved," Rick whispered.

Shane stepped up to the camera with them. "Rick, even if it did, man, it's an automated device. It's gears, okay, they're just winding down. Now come on!" Shane grabbed his arm, but Rick fought him.

"There has to be someone controlling it!" Skye argued.

"Have you been looking around this place? It's dead, okay!" Shane argued with her.

Rick broke free of Shane's grasp and began banging on the door. "I know you're in there!"

Skye could hear the others screaming at them to leave and that nobody was inside but she wouldn't listen. She knew better. There was someone inside. There just had to be. She stood her ground next to Rick as he spoke to the camera.

"I know you can hear me. Please, we're desperate. We have women and children. No food. There's nowhere else to go."

Someone wrapped an arm around her waist from behind and lifted her from the ground, carrying her back. Her legs kicked the air trying to get free. Shane was pulling Rick back while he continued to scream at the camera.

"You're killing us! You're killing us!" Frustrated, Rick spun to leave, finally getting from Shane's hold just as they heard the shutters lift.

Everyone was blinded as a bright light emanating from the now open shutter engulfed them. Skye was released and she looked up into the face of Daryl, both staring at each in shock then back to the opening. As a group they shuffled into the building, guns at the ready.

"I'll cover the back," Daryl spoke up.

Skye stepped in front of him nearly running into Dale.

"Hello?" Rick's voice echoed.

Once in the lobby they began to spread apart.

"Hello!?" Rick tried again.

"Close those doors," Dale dictated.

Skye and Daryl pulled them shut, taking one last glance at the horror they were leaving outside before turning to see the wide-open lobby they were entering. The seal of the CDC over a map of the world covered the entire wall in front of them.

"Watch for walkers," Dale told Daryl, who turned back to the doors, keeping an eye out. The sound of a gun being cocked echoed throughout the room and Glenn, Rick and Shane cocked their as well, now standing with them pointing at a man in a grey t-shirt and sweats. Despite his assault rifle he now held, the man looked harmless.

The stranger shouted, "Anybody infected?"

Rick slowly began to lower his weapon. "One of our group was," he said, breathing heavily. "He didn't make it."

Stepping closer, weapon still at the ready the man asked, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

Skye tried to slow her breathing, but she was too on edge. Everyone's chests heaved from their labored breathing and all had their eyes glued to the man. Even Daryl was looking over his shoulder at him.

"That's asking a lot nowadays."

Rick cocked his head. "I know."

The man looked at the group seeing the horrors they had experienced written on their faces. Their desperation was evident in their pleading eyes.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." His deep voice echoed off the walls.

Rick nodded. "We can do that."

Lowering his weapon, the man replaced his intimidating stance with one that held urgency. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once the door closes it stays closed."

"Shane, Daryl, Glenn. You guys come with me." Rick commanded while walking to the door leaving the rest in an awkward silence while they waited on them to return. No one so much as made eye contact with their new host. No one except Skye.

Stopping in front of him, she held her hand out. "I'm Skye."

He looked at her unsure of how to act. It had been so long since he had human contact. "Jenner." He shook her hand.

"I just want to say thank you." She truly was thankful. This man opened this place up to them when he didn't have to. Seeing him and the precautions he took made her feel safer already.

Not sure if he should really accept her gratitude, Jenner just nodded. Sounds of hurried footsteps filled the room as the men arrived carrying bags from their vehicles. Jenner left her to go to the keypad on the wall next to the doors. Sliding a card in he spoke into the speaker. "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."

There was someone else? The shutters dropped. Skye watched as Rick introduced himself, holding his hand out to Jenner. Jenner didn't shake his hand like he did Skye's but just looked at him, uncomfortably saying, "Dr. Edwin Jenner." Rick nodded.

Stepping past Rick, Jenner directed them towards an elevator. Everyone piled in. Skye stood in the back next to Glenn and Daryl, who kept his eyes focused on the doctor.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" he asked, making Skye smirk.

"Uh, well there were plenty enough lying around. I familiarized myself." He scanned the group. "But you look harmless enough." Looking down to Carl he added, "Except you. I'll have to keep an eye on you." Carl smiled slightly from the attention and Jenner chuckled before looking back to the screen above as the floor levels continued to drop.

Ding! The chrome doors of the elevator opened and they began to pile out. Skye fell towards the back of the group with Daryl.

"I'll show you the 'Big Room' then take you to a lecture room, where I'll sample your blood." He led them down a long hallway.

"How long does it take to be able to tell?" Skye questioned.

"Oh, about an hour or so to do all of them."

"Why not just look for bites. Wouldn't that be quicker?"

"Other than not having to have you all strip down, it also leaves no room for mistakes."

Skye knew he was right. She definitely did not feel comfortable stripping down and letting him examine her.

"Are we underground?" Carol inquired.

"You Claustrophobic?"

"A little." Jenner smirked. "Try not to think about it."

As he stepped into a dark room, he loudly said, "Vi, bring up the lights in the Big Room."

A large circular light sprung to life revealing a series of computers on a platform underneath it. Screens lined the wall at the front.

"Welcome to zone 5." He raised his arms.

Skye could see why Jenner had called it the 'Big Room'. They walked down the platform to the center where all the computers were.

"Where is everybody? The doctors, the staff?" Rick interrogated.

Jenner turned back around to face them. "I'm it. It's just me here."

Skye's heart sank in her chest.

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Laurie looked to Jenner.

As if he was speaking to the air itself, Jenner said, "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them… welcome."

"Hello, guests. Welcome," a voice greeted them. It sounded as if it was coming from all directions. A sad realization washed over the group.

"I'm all that's left," Jenner stated again. "I'm sorry."

Reaching into her jacket pocket, Skye began to fiddle with the lily pendant inside.

Jenner slid his card into a reader on the desk nearby typing in a code as he said, "We can head to the lecture room now. Get this over with. We'll all feel better."

Skye hated the thought of needles. You would think after everything they had been through it would be the last of her worries, but still. Once they had made it to the room they all waited for their turn. Daryl looked down at Skye in the seat in front of him. Seeing her hand shaking violently he asked, "Are you alright?"

Following his gaze to her hand, she let out a half-hearted laugh. "I'm terrified of needles."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Be over soon enough."

She nodded.

Hitting her arm lightly he said, "So stop bein' a baby."

He left her sitting there while he went to get his done. All that was left after him was Dale, Glenn, and Skye. Her leg was bouncing involuntarily as she grew even more nervous.

Daryl was back. "You're up."

Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and flung her jacket from her shoulders. After laying it on the chair she forced her feet to move. She reached Jenner and sat down.

"Let's get this over with." She laid her arm on the table.

Daryl was taken aback by the sight before him. He had never seen Skye without that jacket and he was not disappointed. He shifted uncomfortably. Under that jacket she wore a black leather vest that covered some kind of unitard, showing the slightest amount of her hips. His eyes darted to the others making sure they didn't catch him staring at her. But when his eyes found Shane he couldn't help but notice Shane seemed to be having the same thoughts. His eyes narrowed in annoyance.

Skye sat with her eyes closed trying to think of something else, but was brought back.

"Take it you don't like needles," Jenner observed.

"Nope."

He chuckled and a few seconds later said, "Well…. I'm done."

She felt the softness of the cotton ball he placed on her arm.

"Hold this here."

Placing her index finger on the cotton swab, she took a few steps towards her seat. The room began to spin and her stomach twisted into a knot. She reached out to stabilize herself, but failed. An arm snaked around her waist just before everything went black.

Skye woke up not remembering where she was and she bolted upright.

"Easy, easy," Jacqui calmed her. "You passed out, darlin'."

"Passed out?" The last thing she could remember was getting her blood drawn.

"Yeah, almost knocked your head pretty good, too. Lucky you didn't. You can thank Daryl for that."

She gave her a questioning look.

"He caught you just before you fell." She held her hand out to Skye. "Come on. Jenner made us all some dinner." Skye let her help her to her feet and followed her out of the room.

Laughter could be heard from the dining area. A familiar smell filled her nostrils as they drew closer and her stomach grumbled angrily. Skye held her hand up to let Jacqui know she was fine. Jacqui went ahead of her and found her seat. She looked to just behind T-Dog where Daryl sat sucking down a bottle of whiskey. Noticing her arrival he held his bottle up to her. She smiled back at him wanting to thank him but figured it should wait till later.

"Ah, there she is. Nice to see you up and about. Jenner made us spaghetti," Dale smiled brightly. "Here I'll get you a plate."

"Thank you," she smiled with gratitude. She took it and sat at a smaller table away from the rest of the group. The spaghetti was like a little plate of heaven. It had been so long since she had some homemade food like this. It was a huge step up from the roasted squirrel they had been living off of. A glass was set down in front of her.

"Here. Get some wine in ya. Make you feel loads better," Daryl winked.

"Here you are young lad."

They looked over to see Dale hand Carl a glass of wine. Everyone waited in silent anticipation to see his reaction to the deep burgundy liquid.

"Ewwww!" The young boy sat the glass back on the table.

Everyone burst into laughter as Laurie said, "That's my boy."

"Why don't you stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane advised Carl.

Daryl walked back over to the table. "Not you Glenn."

"What?" Glenn asked sheepishly.

"You're drinkin', little man. I wanna see how red your face can get," Daryl joked, while pouring some whiskey into a glass.

While everyone was laughing away and enjoying themselves, Skye couldn't help but notice she wasn't the only one who didn't share their joy.

Jenner sat across the room from her with his elbow resting on the table, watching the others with a look of deep thought playing across his face.

There was a clinking of glass as Rick stood, "Seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

T-Dog raised his glass. "He is more than just our host."

There were many cheers followed by Daryl hollering, "Booyah!"

This was a different side of Daryl she hadn't seen. He seemed to be relaxed. Yes, he was drunk, but it was more than that. He didn't have to look over his shoulder. None of them did. It was a good feeling, but something about Jenner's demeanor made her feel uneasy. Her eyes fell back down to the food she had in front of her. They were lucky to have found him. How much longer could they have survived without a nice meal in their bodies, safe shelter…. she dreaded the answer.

"So when are you going to tell us what happened here, doc?" All eyes fell on Shane. "All the, uh- the other doctors. People who are supposed to be figurine' out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now," Rick said, taking his seat.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move. Supposed to find all the answers and instead we, uh-" He laughed. "We found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military coordinate got overrun, the rest bolted."

Shane didn't seem satisfied. "Every last one?"

"No. Many couldn't face walking out the door," he stated, clearly getting annoyed by Shane's attitude. He paused briefly before adding, "They… opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

It was Andrea who spoke up next. "You didn't leave. Why?"

"I just kept working., hoping to do some good."

Glenn staggered around the table, looking at Shane. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man."

Everyone sat in silence for a minute.

"Are you all… family?" Jenner asked, although he knew the answer.

"No. Most of us didn't even know each other till the world went to shit," Rick answered. "This is my wife and son. Shane and I were partners in law enforcement. "

"Others had family in the group, but they were, um- lost. Either by walkers or just separated." Dale looked from Andrea to Carol, and to Daryl.. "We had a lot more before we decided to leave to find this place."

Jenner nodded in understanding.

"And you?" Skye looked up to see him staring at her.

Her eyes danced from face to face. "I just joined them a few days ago. Was with a group in Atlanta and before that… family."

Everyone's eyes fell on her, surprised to actually here mention a family as though the thought of her having one hadn't crossed their minds. They didn't know much about her. Nothing before the nursing home at all.

"Did they…?"

"Die?" she asked bluntly.

He nodded.

"Yes. All of them." She looked down at her spaghetti and realized she lost her appetite. Knowing everyone was waiting for it she added, "Walkers."

And with that everyone's heads dropped, thinking about the dead, who they had lost, and what the future held for them. One thing everyone wondered was what life would've been like and who would still be with them if they had just tried to find this place sooner.

"Um, how about we get you guys somewhere to rest?"

Jenner led the group down a series of hallways lined with doors.

"Most the facility is powered down including housing. So you'll have to make do here. Couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He knelt down to the kids level. "Just don't plug in the video games, or anything that draws power." Standing he waved his hands to the rest of the group, "Same applies. If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Skye's heart leapt. Hot water? That was not even something that had crossed her mind. Never in her life had she been so excited to take a shower. Everyone started staking their claim on rooms. Skye poked her head into the room to her left. From across the room, a big fluffy blue couch beckoned to her. A tv hung on the wall, there were a few stands and a bookshelf lined the wall. She looked to her left and saw Daryl opening the door to the room next to hers. He stopped just briefly enough to make eye contact then he disappeared into the room, his crossbow hanging on his back. After giving the others some time to get their showers she grabbed a change of clothes and made a beeline for the showers.

Warm water rained down on her face and down her back, sending warm sensations all throughout her body. It had been so long since she had taken a warm shower and she instantly regretted taking it for granted all those years before the outbreak. She tried to keep Jenner's words about taking it easy in the back of her mind but she was finding it harder and harder to do. The water washed away all the dried blood, dirt and sweat that she had come to be used to. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she started to laugh. It was a genuine feeling to be some overcome with happiness from something so simple as warm water. Hesitantly, she shut the water off and grabbed the plush white towel she had hanging just outside the shower. She thought she heard the slam of a door nearby but quickly pushed it from her mind. Taking her time, she brushed her hair and then quickly shook it out. Readjusting the towel she headed towards where her clothes sat on a bench waiting for her. The door to the showers creaked open.

"Hello?" She had thought everyone had taken showers already. "Someone there?" She searched the room but found no one. Turning around she came face to face with Shane. The smell of Southern Comfort flowed from his breath to her nostrils as he stared down at her.

"Shane, what the hell? You scared me." She went to go past him to grab her clothes, but he stepped in front of her. "Shane let me pass."

"Come on now, Skye. I want to talk to you."

"It can wait, Shane." She attempted to get past again, but this time he grabbed her arm.

"Now, just wait a second," he said forcefully. "What's your story girl? You come into our group, don't socialize much with people, keep your past hidden, and just keep to yourself. Why? You ever think that maybe I want to chat with you…or something."

She didn't like the way he said the last part, but tried to keep her cool. "All you had to do was try talking to me Shane."

His grip on her arm tightened. "All you do is walk around teasing me. You're no better than her!" His hand found the top of her towel and started yanking on it.

Fighting back the best she could, she yelled, "Shane! Stop! Please!" She wanted to lash out at him, to hit him, but was afraid he would get the upper hand on the towel if she risked removing one of her hands.

"Jesus, Skye!"

"Stop!" In her struggle, she failed to here the door to the bathroom slam open and in an instant Shane was shoved off of her.

"What the hell is your problem, man!" It was Daryl.

Shane regained his composure. "Nothin', Daryl. We were just havin' some fun. Mind your own business," he tried to play if off.

"Didn't look like she was haven' much fun!" Daryl stood between her and Shane, the muscles in his shoulders were tense and his fists were balled up ready for Shane to try something. She saw Shane try to look past Daryl at her.

"Get out!" Daryl demanded and Shane stormed out of the room.

Shaking, she held the towel tighter to herself, knuckles turning white.

"You okay?" Daryl's tone had softened and he chewed on the inside of his cheek.

She nodded.

"I'll stand outside and make sure that asshole doesn't come back. Go ahead and get dressed."

"Thanks."

Daryl's body pumped with the adrenaline from what had just transpired and it mixed with the alcohol in his system. They had finally gotten to somewhere they didn't have to worry about walkers and now they have to worry about that scum. Wonderful. Just let him try to come back through here. Daryl wouldn't hold back. You have to be incredibly low to try to overpower a girl like that. He leaned back against the cold stone of the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. There was click of the door and Skye stepped out.

"Come on. Let's get you back to your room. You need rest."

They walked in silence and stopped as they reached her door. However, she couldn't get herself to reach for the handle. Looking up into Daryl's face she shifted in place.

"Daryl, do you think I could-" she broke off.

"What?"

"Do you think I could share a room with you?"

Her question surprised him.

"It's just that it's just me in there. And I don't think I would be able to sleep." Her head dropped not wanting to look him in the eye.

He let out a sigh, knowing she didn't want to be alone because of Shane. He reached over and opened his door, holding it open for her to walk in. Pulling the door closed he said, "You can have the couch. I'll take the floor."

"No, it's okay. This was your room -"

"Not even going to argue with you about it. Now take the damn couch." He grabbed his beloved crossbow that had been propped up against the couch and laid it on the table, next to his bottle of whiskey. He brought the bottle to his lips and took a swig. Seeing her watching him from her place on the couch, he held the bottle out to her, offering her a drink. She just shook her head.

"You sure? Might help you sleep," he asked lying out on the floor beneath her. When she didn't say anything he said, "Suit yourself."

Lying back onto the couch, she reached up and switched the tableside lamp off. Darkness claimed the room.

"Daryl," she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for catching me when I fainted."

"Didn't think I'd let you fall and crack your head open, did you? You'd probably have knocked something else loose up there and be even crazier than you are now."

She smiled to herself. "You think I'm crazy?"

"You'd have to be. Leave that nice nursing home to come along with us on the road."

"Beats sitting in a room full of people just waiting to die. They'd accepted the world as it is. You guys seemed as if you fight to find something worth living for."

Daryl laid there thinking over her words.

"If I wouldn't have left to go with you guys, I would still be sitting there, staring out the same old window wondering what was left, if anything."

There was a long pause.

"And your family…what happened with them?"

Him mentioning her family made her heart stop. It was a topic she avoided at all costs and yet she felt compelled to give him an honest answer. "We were trying to make it to the city. Someone had told us there was a rescue group there. Needless to say, there wasn't. We got cornered into an old bar. My dad, he barricaded the doors but they busted through. Took my mother… my brother…. and my dad."

Daryl actually felt a pang of sadness as he listened to her story and couldn't help but wonder how many others she had told this to.

"My sister and I barely made it out. We had made it to the second floor and used the fire escape."

She stopped, and Daryl swore he could hear her crying softly. Instead of pushing her to tell him what happened to her sister, he let it go. After a few moments, he heard the crying cease. He felt bad about bringing it up.

In attempt to cheer her up a bit he asked, "Skye?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't snore, do ya?"

She couldn't help but smile. "I don't think so."

"Good. 'Cause I don't wanna have to kick your ass in the morning' for keeping me up."

Slowly but surely, they both drifted off to sleep.

**Thank you to those who left reviews. I love getting them and would absolutely love some more. **** In the next few chapters, you may notice that I change how some scenes happen in the actual show. Please don't send me anything saying 'that's not what happened' or anything along those lines. I know. Lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! **


	5. Decontamination

The next morning Skye woke up feeling amazing. actually getting a good nights sleep was a nice change. When she got to the dining room she grabbed a glass of orange juice and a plate with some bacon before sitting at the same side table she had the night before. Propping her legs up on a chair, she sat back and picked at the bacon.

"Eggs! Powdered, but I do 'em good," T-Dog played, walking over to the table with a frying pan.

Glenn let out a pained groan, a byproduct of the previous nights binging.

"Betcha can't tell," T-Dog went on about his eggs. "How about you, girl? Want some?"

Skye shook her head politely. "Never was an egg person."

"Protein helps the hangover," he said while scooping some onto Glenn's plate. Glenn was still moaning and groaning.

Holding up a pill bottle Rick questioned, "Where'd all this come from?"

"Jenner," Laurie replied.

"Could you help me with this, please." Rick handed the bottle over to Laurie.

"He thought we might need it." With a glance over at Glenn she added, "Some of us at least."

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again," Glenn moaned.

Skye returned her attention to her bacon as Shane walked in.

"Hey," he greeted the others at the table.

"Hey." Rick threw the pill into his mouth followed by some orange juice.

Daryl walked in and headed for the bacon.

"You feel as bad as I do?" Rick directed at Shane.

"Worse."

Skye made sure to keep her eyes to her plate, but Daryl was glaring daggers at Shane. Once he filled his plate and went and sat at the table next to Skye's.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog walked alongside Shane to the table.

Skye's head jerked up and looked to Shane.

Not getting a response, T-Dog asked again. "Your neck?"

Skye could see three long, red scratches trailing down the side of his neck. Did she do that?

"Must've done it in my sleep," Shane responded, trying to blow it off.

"Never seen you do that before," Rick pointed out.

"Me neither. Not like me at all." Shane's eyes found Laurie's and then darted over to Skye, who looked away feeling uncomfortable. Instead, she looked to Daryl, who was staring at Shane with narrowed eyes.

"Good morning," Jenner said, entering the room with a coffee cup in hand.

Everyone greeted him.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing, but-"

"But you will anyway,"Jenner said, irritated.

"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea jumped in.

Jenner stopped what he was doing and turned to face the group. "What is it you want to know?"

"Let's start with what this thing is?" Rick offered.

"It'd be easier to show you," Jenner stated before grabbing his cup and heading to the Big Room. Dropping their forks, the group got up and followed him.

Setting his cup down on the desk, Jenner began typing and said, "Give me playback of TS-19."

"Beginning playback of TS-19," the robotic voice rang out and the screen in front of them lit up. Neon blue lines traced themselves along the outside and suddenly filled with images of the brain. Skye stood in awe at the bright blues that made up the inner workings of the brain danced across the screen.

"Very few people have had a chance to see this. Very few."

The inner section of the screen added layers and layers until they saw what looked like a persons body and the details of a brain.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one," Jenner leaned towards him. "Not that it matters in the end." To Vi he directed, "Take us in 3IV."

"Enhanced internal view," the computer twisted the image of the person to a side view and then zoomed in to the inside of the brain. Everyone watched astonished by what they were witnessing. Bright lights flickered in the brain.

"What are those lights?" Shane sat to Skye's right, staring up at the screen.

"It's a person life. Experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, in all those ripples of light… is you. The thing that makes you unique… and human."

Skye looked away from the screen to catch a glimpse of Shane.

Daryl crossed his arms. "You going to make sense? Ever?"

"Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry all messages. They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is? A vigil." Rick stepped towards Jenner.

"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil."

Andrea stepped up to Rick. "This person died? Who?"

"Test subject 19. Somone who was bitten, infected, and volunteered to have us record the process." Skye's eyes slowly lifted to look at Jenner, hearing the sadness in his voice. "Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event."

As they watched, the lights disappeared and the brain went black.

"What is that?" Glenn leaned forward onto his knees.

Jenner gestured towards the screen. "It invades the brain like meningitis." Quietly, he finished, "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be, gone."

Andrea began to sob. Jenner didn't know what to say.

"She lost somebody two days ago. her sister," Laurie filled him in.

He leaned in close to Andrea and said softly, "I lost someone, too. I know how devastating it is," he tried to comfort her. Returning to where he had stood and directed, "Scan to the second event."

"Scanning to second event."

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We have reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours."

Some started to move closer to get a better look.

"In the case of this patient it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds."

Red light fluttered inside the base of the brain and began to spread slightly. Skye couldn't believe it.

"It restarts the brain?" Laurie questioned, shocked.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically it gets them up and moving-"

"But they're not alive," Rick interrupted.

Jenner took a step back and held his hand up to towards the screen. "You tell me."

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark," he answered, shaking his head.

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back. The 'you' part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

There was a beam of light that burst through the brain.

Carol stood up. "God, what was that?"

Skye knew exactly what that was. He shot his patient in the head. The gun had even been on the screen at the top.

"He shot his patient in the head," Skye answered for him. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations."

"Powering down the main screen and work stations."

Daryl looked up at Jenner, unsure of how to take the man after seeing all of this.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea snapped. Skye was really getting to be tired of her. The others watched her in disbelief as she stalked towards the doctor, yet they waited for his answer.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal _"

"Or the wrath of God," Jacqui interrupted him.

"There's that."

Again, Andrea started on him. "Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere."

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Skye asked him calmly.

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know How can you not know?" Rick was flustered.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month." This fact was not good news to their ears.

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere. Nothing. That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea shook her head. She let out a deep breath. "Jesus."

Daryl began to walk around the room. Putting his hands to his eyes, he shook his head saying, "Man, I want to get shit-faced drunk. Again."

Skye clasped her hands together. "He didn't say there was nothing. He said he hasn't been in contact. There is still hope."

Everyone looked to her and she looked back at them shocked by Andrea's pessimistic outlook.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been tasking for you and I hate to ask you one more question but that clock," he shot a hand out at a clock with red numbers hanging on the left wall. "It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

Skye hadn't even noticed it until this moment and she now got an unsettling feeling.

Jenner was searching for an answer. Gulping he said, "The basement generators, they run out of fuel." He began to walk away.

"And then?" Rick looked worried.

Jenner didn't respond.

Looking to the ceiling Rick said, "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

Skye's breathing began to speed up. She didn't like the sound of that. Not at all.

"T-Dog, Glenn, Shane. Let's go check out these generators," Rick gestured to the three men.

Skye sat on the couch in the room she shared with Daryl, legs tucked up into her chest. Her eyes moved back and forth as they followed Daryl as he paced around the room with the whiskey bottle hanging in his grasp.

"Where do you think Jenner went?"

"I dunno. Probably hidin' out in his office. Coward." Suddenly, Daryl stopped pacing and looked to the ceiling.

"What is it?"

He didn't say anything, just stood there.

"Daryl?"

"There air conditioning stopped."

"What does that mean?"

He turned to look at her. "I'm guessing we're out of fuel." Tipping the bottle back, he took another long swig of the whiskey.

Jumping up she headed for the door.

"Where you goin'?"

"To look for Jenner."

Skye found Jenner in his office. He was sitting at his desk with his back to her and a picture in his hand. She could hear him talking to the woman in the photo.

"-in the time that I had. I hope you'd be proud of that." He sat the picture back on the desk.

Gently, Skye rested her hand on his shoulder, startling him.

"Is that your wife?"

Wiping the tears from his eyes, he nodded.

"She would've been."

He looked to her confused.

"Proud."

Giving her a grateful smile, he placed his hand on hers. He rose from his seat and grabbed a name tag sitting on the desk, placing it in his pocket. Looking out at the computers below, Jenner stopped at the glass window overlooking the Big Room.

"They always say there's got to be more time." The power to the big room went out. "Then it runs out."

He was really starting to freak Skye out even more. "You need to tell everyone what's going on. We deserve to know."

Facing her, he nodded. "Yes, but in the end does it even matter?"

She stared at him incredulously as he walked past her, leaving the office. Shaking her head she caught up to him in time to hear Laurie and Carol questioning him about the air. Daryl poked his head out the room, bottle still in hand.

"What's going on? Why'd everything turn off?"

Jenner reached down and snatched the bottle. "Energy use is being prioritized."

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale stood in his doorway.

Daryl looked to Skye for answers and she just shook her head. They followed after the doctor.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"Hey!" Daryl hollered at Jenner. "Hey, what the hell's that mean!?" Daryl sped up to get to the front. "Hey, man, I'm talking' to you. What do you mean it's shuttin' itself down. How can a building do anything."

"You'd be surprised."

"Rick!" Laurie yelled.

They all descended the staircase and met up with Rick and the others.

Rick fell into step with Jenner. "jenner, what's happening?"

"The system is dropping all the non-essential uses of power."

Rick pointed behind them.

"it's designed to keep the place running until the last possible second. Right as we approached the half hour mark." He pointed to the clock that now read '00:31:27'. "Right on schedule."

Downing some of the whiskey, Jenner climbed up to the computers. he stopped and handed the rest of it to Daryl who snatched it away from him. To Andrea, Jenner said, "It was the French."

"What?"

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." He climbed the remaining steps.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"Same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran outta juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

Shane jumped up the steps towards Jenner. "Let me tell you something-"

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care-" Rick pulled at Shane's shoulder. To the others he said, "Laurie, grab your things. Everybody get your stuff. We're getting out of here NOW!" They started to bustle about. An alarm rang out causing terror to run through them. They all began to panic. Skye saw a flicker on the screen and the countdown appeared.

"Thirty minutes until decontamination."

"Doc, what's goin' on here, dog?" T-Dog had fear in his eyes.

"Ya'll heard Rick! Get your stuff now. Let's go," Shane urged.

Skye rushed towards the door but was stopped as a shutter fell into place. "What the hell!?"

Glenn stared up at the door. "You just lock us in? He just locked us in!"

Adrenaline built up inside her as she looked to Jenner, who sat recording at his workstation. Daryl ran at him.

"You son of a bitch! You locked us in here!?"

"Shane!" Rick pointed towards the now irate Daryl. Shane caught up to him, trying to keep him away from the doctor with T-Dog's help. Shane pressed his body into Daryl's gut. Daryl gritted his teeth wanting to slam the glass whiskey bottle into Jenner's head.

Rick marched up to Jenner, his face hard. "Jenner, open that door now."

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things," Daryl snarled.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you, once those front doors closed, they wouldn't open again. You heard me say that."

They all stared up at the red numbers ticking down.

"It's better this way," Jenner offered.

"What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes?"

Rick gave Shane a look. Shane kicked the back of Jenner's chair as Rick yelled, "What happens in twenty-eight minutes!?"

"You know what this place is?" Getting into Shane's face he yelled, "We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" His voice echoed off the walls. "Weaponized smallpox, ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" His body shook with every word. Daryl circled around him. Sitting back down, Jenner adjusted his lab coat and continued more calmly. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, a terrorist attack for example, HIT's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"HIT's?" Skye didn't understand.

"Vi, define."

"HIT's, high impulse thermobaric consists of a two stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum pressure ignites the oxygen between five thousand and six thousand degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"Sets the air on fire."

Skye closed her eyes, taking it all in.

"No pain. And end to sorrow, grief, regret… everything."

Skye jumped as Daryl hurled the whiskey as the shuttered door, glass shattering. She just sat there, thinking everything over and she could hear Shane yell, "Out of my way." He started to attack the shutter with an axe and T-Dog threw another up to Daryl, who joined in. Grunts from the men and the sound of metal crashing into metal filled the air.

"Should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier," Jenner stated.

From where she sat on the floor with Carol and the kids, Laurie snapped, "Easier for who?"

"For all of you. YOu know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonizing death." Turning his attention to Andrea, "Your sister, what was her name?"

"Amy."

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife?" He directed the last question to Rick, who stood nearby staring in disbelief.

"I don't want this."

Shane came up and rested on the computer. "I can't make a dent," he said, out of breath.

"THose doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."

"But your head, ain't," Daryl came at Jenner with the axe over his head. Dale, T-dog and Rick restrained him, grabbing the axe.

Back to Rick, jenner pointed out, "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was only a matter of time everyone you loved was dead."

Laurie stared up at Rick, shocked.

"What, you really said that? After all your big talk." Shane sounded furious.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"

"There is no hope. There never was."

"There is always hope," Rick defended. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe it won't be here but somebody, somewhere."

"What part of everything is gone don't you understand?" Andrea shot.

Skye glared at her.

"Listen to your friend, she gets it." Jenner pointed at Andrea. Nodding, he said, "This is what takes us down. This is… our extinction of end."

"This isn't right," Carol cried. "You can't just keep us here."

Jenner sat down and leaned forward, "One tiny moment. A, a, a millisecond. No pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Carol clung to Sophia in her arms.

"Wouldn't it be kinder? More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Skye could tell Jenner truly believed this was a better way. She couldn't help but wonder if he was right. She thought back to all the ones she had lost. Friends. Her mother, father, brother….Riley. Her heart felt heavy with loss. The thought of that all melting away in an instant, of it all being done and gone. It seemed like pure bliss.

Shane cocked a shotgun and charged Jenner, but not before running into Rick. "Shane!"

"Stay outta my way, Rick. Stay outta my way!" Putting the gun in Jenner's face, he threatened, "Open that door, or I'll blow your head off. Do you hear me!?" The look in his eyes was that of pure rage.

"Brother, brother," Rick urged. "This is not the way. You do this, we'll never get out of here."

Laurie spoke up as well. "Shane, you listen to him."

Skye could see Daryl walk up behind Rick and she wondered what he was going to do.

"If he dies, we all die."

Shane screamed in Jenner's face and jerked the gun to the side, pumping shell after shell into the computer nearby. "Shane!" Rick grabbed hold of the gun and over powered Shane, knocking him to the floor. Holding the gun above him, Rick asked, "You done now? You done?"

"Yeah, guess we all are," Shane looked up at Rick with blame in his eyes. Handing the gun off to T-Dog, Rick looked around to every member of the group. Skye noticed that Daryl had somehow gotten the axe back and now stared back into her eyes.

Turning on Jenner, Rick challenged him, "I think you're lyon'. "

"What?"

"About no hope. If that were true you would've bolted with the rest or taken the way out. You didn't."

Jenner sat back.

"You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. It always matters." He rubbed at his nose, leaning into Jenner. "You stayed when others ran. Why?"

Jenner turned to face him. "Not because I wanted to. I made a promise." He rose and pointed to the screen. "To her. My wife."

Skye lifted her head and looked at Jenner, remembering walking in on him talking to her picture. Her eyes followed Daryl as he walked back towards the door.

"Test subject 19 was your wife,"Laurie stated.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" A crash came from Daryl starting on the shutter with the hatchet again. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me, I'm just Edwin Jenner." He shook his head. "She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's all we want. A choice, a chance," Rick pleaded.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can," Laurie begged.

Jenner fought with himself on the inside, but gave in and said, "I told you topside is locked down. I can't open those." Everyone watched as he walked over to the keypad and type in a code. The shutter dropped and Daryl yelled, "Come on!"

In an instant everyone jumped to their feet. There was squeaking of sneakers as they dashed towards the exit. Everyone but Jacqui, Andrea, and Skye. T-Dog tried pulling Jacqui along but she fought him. As they discussed the matter, Daryl looked back to see Skye standing at the base of the ramp, not budging.

"Oh, you gotta be kid din' me!?" He rushed towards her. "What the hell do you think you're doin'?"

She shook her head.

"Don't even try pulling this bullshit, girl. Let's go." He pulled at her arm.

"No. I can't." She yanked her arm away.

"Yes, you can."

"No pain, Daryl. No loss." She avoided his gaze.

"Don't you even be saying' that to me. That's just a nice way of saying' you're given' up and it ain't happenin'. You're coming with us even if I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out," he threatened.

Her eyes met his. "There's nothing left to fight for."

"Go, go!" Dale yelled to the others.

"There's always something worth fightin' for. You just have to find it. But if you give up now, you'll never get the chance to." He held his hand out to her.

She thought about it for a minute and she knew he was right. The clock read '00:04:43'. Looking from the clock to his hand, she made up her mind. Her hand slid into his and he pulled her behind him. They bolted up the staircases, trying to catch up to the others.

"Daryl!" Rick yelled.

"Got it!" Daryl ran up to the window where Shane was attacking it with a hatchet.

"Daryl!" T-Dog ran up as Daryl moved out of the way and began slamming a chair into the glass. The glass screeched as the metal scratched across it's surface.

Shane grabbed his gun and ran up behind him. "Dog, get down, get down!" He fired into the glass, but to no avail.

"Rick! I have something that may help," Carol hurried over to him rummaging through her bag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file is going to do it," Shane said sarcastically.

Ignoring him, she continued talking to Rick, "Your first night at camp when I was washing your uniform. I found this in your pocket." When she withdrew her hand, she held a grenade. Rick grabbed it and ran up to the window. Daryl grabbed Skye by the arm and pulled her off to the side, out of the way. Rick placed the grenade and sprinted towards them. "Oh, shit!"

"Get down!"

The explosion rang through her ears but she was relieved to see the glass was no longer blocking their path. They all made their escape.

Skye pulled her pistols from their holsters and fired on some walkers blocking their path. One by one they dropped to the ground, clearing the way. Daryl swung the axe at one blocking the way to the truck, decapitating it.

"Get to the truck, hurry!" he shouted to Skye. Sprinting, she got to the truck as fast as she could. Yanking the door open she jumped inside. A second later, the driver side jerked open and Daryl jumped in next to her, not even bothering to take the crossbow from his back till he got in. Skye was frozen in place as she saw fire behind the glass windows of the CDC building. Daryl wrapped his arms around her head and pulled her downward, shielding her with his body. The whole truck shook as the explosion sent waves through the air. Daryl's hands on her ears muffled the sound but it was still almost too loud to bear. As quick as it had happened it was over. Daryl slowly lifted himself from her and she sat up taking in the destruction that now laid before them. It was just gone. Rubble was all that remained. The first thing that went through her head was that they needed to get out of there. Walkers were sure to be attracted by that sound. She didn't even want to think about how many would be swarming this area by nightfall.


	6. Faith

The sun shone brightly, warming the black leather on Skye's back. A soft breeze played at the back of her neck. Reaching down, she grabbed the last two bags they had left to pack and swung it one up on her shoulder. She handed the other off to Shane who stood resting on the front of the RV. Rick, Laurie, Carol and the kids piled into their vehicle while Daryl walked his brothers motorcycle past, ready to be moving on. Dale hollered at them from the RV door catching their attention.

Shane held a hand out in front of him. "Ladies first."

Stepping into the RV, Skye found a seat at the table. Shane took the one opposite her. The RV shook with the start of he engine and she felt it lurch forward. They were on the road again, only this time heading for Fort Benning. What they would find there, none of them knew. The rumbling from Daryl's bike could be heard from outside and the plaid of his shirt could be seen flapping in the wind. Skye sat staring out the window, trying to avoid the looks she was receiving from Shane. After awhile of driving, Shane placed his gun on the table and began taking it apart. She looked over at him. He caught her watching him and a smirk played across his face.

"You know how to clean a gun?"

"No. No one ever showed me."

"Never?"

She shook her head. "My dad would just take me and my brother out and do some target practice. He wanted us to be able to take care of ourselves." Realizing what she had just said, she averted her eyes from Shane's.

Ignoring the hidden meaning, he said, "But he never showed you how to clean your guns?"

"Never had my own. These are my brothers. When everything started going down he gave them to me along with the holsters." She took them out and placed them on the table.

Shane grabbed one and turned it over in his hand. Looking up at her he nodded, "These are nice. Very nice."

She smiled.

"If you want, I can teach you."

"You don't have to. Really."

"It's the least I can do," he raised his eyebrows at her and she could see there was no use arguing with him.

"Okay, thanks."

"Oh, jeez," Dale muttered from the wheel.

Shane stood up from his seat and looked out the window, blocking Skye's view. She heard the roar of Daryl's bike stop at the window.

"See a way through?" Dale asked. She didn't hear an answer, but heard he motorcycle rev up and take off. The RV began to move again, but much slower.

"What's wrong?"

"Way's blocked. Daryl's leading Dale through the wreckage." Shane sat back down and grabbed up her gun. "Now… What's nice about your guns is that there is two of them." He smiled.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I can work with one and you can watch and copy everything as I do it."

Andrea huffed from the couch.

"What is it, Andrea?" Shane asked, as irritated by Andrea as Skye was.

"Oh, nothin. Let's just teach the outsider how to use a gun. Forget the people who have been with the group the whole time."

Skye couldn't believe her ears.

"She's not an outsider, Andrea," Shane defended.

"Right, she plays lone wolf every chance she gets. You ever see her sitting with the group?"

"Just shut your mouth, Andrea. If it's that big of a deal, I'll teach you to clean yours later. Okay?"

"I'm just saying –"

"Don't want to hear it." Shane held a hand up to her. Getting up from her spot, she stomped off to the back of the RV.

"Thank you," Skye smiled.

"Eh, it's nothin'. She's gotta learn that she's not little miss queen bee, ya know?"

There was a bang and the RV ceased to move. They all clambered from the RV and gathered around outside. Dale told Rick the radiator hose was blown… again. Daryl had gotten off of his bike and was now rifling through one of the vehicles that lined the road. They all made their way down the highway searching for any supplies that could be salvaged. Daryl and T-Dog went ahead to start siphoning some gas out of the cars. Skye stuck close to Shane and Glenn, earning a confused look from Daryl. Shane had his shotgun out, and Glenn had a wrench in hand searching for a new radiator hose for the RV. As Glenn worked away at a truck, Shane stood watch. Skye wandered around. Something caught her eye. It was a picture of a jug of ice-cold water on the side of a truck. 'At Home Delivery' was written underneath. "Shane," she called.

In an instant he was there, weapon drawn. He lowered it once he saw where she was pointing. Throwing the shotgun around to his back, he lifted one of the shutters on the truck revealing the treasure inside. Just on this section of the truck there were sixteen ten-gallon jugs of water.

"Hey! Were we short on water?" he asked Glenn. Skye laughed as Shane popped off one of the lids and doused himself with the liquid. Glenn let out an ecstatic laugh.

"Hey, save me some!"

"It's like bein' baptized man," Shane chortled.

"This is amazing," Skye smiled. How could they be so lucky?

Shaking her head, she crossed the median back to the side of the highway the RV was on to tell T-Dog and Daryl about their great find.

Shane looked up in time to see Rick getting Laurie, Carol and the kids under the cars. As quick as he could, he grabbed Glenn and threw him to the ground. He didn't see Skye anywhere.

"Where is she?" Glenn mouthed to Shane.

"I don't know!" he mouthed back.

They froze as walkers began passing by the truck they were hiding under.

Skye was playing with the lily pendant in her hand when she stopped, realizing how quiet it had gotten. Without warning, she was pulled to the ground. A hand was clasped over her mouth as they rolled under a car. It took her a minute to realize she was on her back and that the eyes she was staring up into belonged to Daryl. His arm rested on her chest as his hand still kept her quiet. With his other hand he held a finger to his lips, signaling her not to make a sound. Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth. He pointed out and she looked to her right. She saw numerous pairs of feet walking by. Daryl grabbed her chin and made her look back at him.

"It'll be okay." She read his lips and she nodded in return.

Daryl looked out and saw T-Dog go down. Skye followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. Daryl signaled for her to stay put and slowly rolled out from under the car. Worried that he would get caught, Skye watched Daryl as he stabbed a walker in the back of the head, taking him down. He laid T-Dog flat and covered him with a corpse. Grabbing another from a car he covered himself as well. Skye had to give him points for being resourceful. Seeing the coast was clear, Skye rolled out from under the car and dashed over to where Daryl now attempted to get T-Dog to his feet. She wrapped an arm around T-Dog once she got to them. The two of them helping him get back to the rest of the group.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked, seeing everyone looking out over the guardrail.

"Sophia ran. Had two walkers behind her. Rick is out there with her," Shane filled them in.

"What and no one else thought it would be smart to go help them?" Daryl fired.

"They went so fast we wouldn't have even been able to tell where they went."

Daryl motioned to Dale who came over and took T-Dog's weight letting Daryl free to climb over the guardrail. "Anyone want to join me? I can track 'em." Glenn and Shane stepped over with him, following him out into the vast woods.

"We need to get him taken care of," Dale referred to T-Dog. "He's losing a lot of blood. We need to stop it."

"Let's get him to the RV. I can take care of him in there," Skye offered.

They did their best to get T-Dog into the RV and onto the bed in the back. Once they got him laid back, Dale fetched some supplies while Skye held a rag on his wound.

"Just breathe. We'll get you fixed up the best we can. I promise," Skye soothed.

T-Dog grabbed her free hand with his and squeezed. Dale returned.

"This is all I could find for right now," he said, handing her some tape, water and a cloth.

"We'll make it work," she nodded. "Hold here." Dale placed his hand on the cloth already on T-Dogs arm. Getting the water ready, she nodded to Dale. He lifted the rag and she poured some water over the gash. T-Dog hissed in pain and she quickly covered it with the new clean cloth.

"Alright, now hold this." As Dale held it to T-Dog's arm she wrapped some tape around it to keep it in place. T-Dog lied there trying to steady his breathing. "Okay?"

T-Dog nodded. "As good as it can be."

"Okay, well I'm going to go help the others. It sounds like Shane and Glenn are back."

While they waited for Daryl and Rick to get back, they worked on getting food and water they had found back to the RV, making a pile at the front. Skye could hear Andrea giving Dale a hard time about taking her gun. She did her best to tune her out, but heard her name.

"And why does Skye get to keep her guns?"

"She's trained. That's what ya'll need is some training but until that time I think it's best if Dale keeps them all accounted for," Shane tried reasoning with Andrea but she just stalked off shooting Skye a nasty look. To Dale, he said, "Mind telling me what that was about?"

Skye just shook her head at Andrea's annoying attitude.

"God, they're back."

Skye looked to the guardrail as Rick approached with Daryl in tow. Skye watched as Rick explained to Carol that they couldn't find her but would try again tomorrow. Daryl tried backing Rick up and to keep Carol calm. Rick let her know they knew the walker they had found hadn't been anywhere near Sophia.

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.

"Cut the sumbitch open. Made sure," Daryl replied.

Carol lowered herself to sit on the rail. She began to snap at Rick, blaming him. Skye understood that she was upset, but it bothered her that Carol would attack him that way. It's not like he made this happen, that he wanted Sophia to get lost.

Daryl watched as Skye took off into the RV. Rick went off to take a walk and the others crowded around Carol so Daryl headed into the RV where he found Skye sitting on the sofa. Her legs were pulled up into her chest and she rested her head on her knees.

"You alright?"

Skye tilted her head to look up at him.

"You realize how much you ask me that?" she teased.

"Habit, I guess." He sat next to her.

"I'm fine. Just worried about Sophia. Poor little girl."

"I'll find her."

She looked deep into his eyes. "I know you will."

Her faith in him stirred something inside of him, but he didn't know what. While the others seemed to be full of doubt, she knew only hope. It was hard for him to believe this was the same person he had to talk out of staying behind at the CDC just a couple days before. Then she did something that completely caught him off guard. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. He didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to get up and run out of the RV, but the other part want to wrap an arm around her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

The RV shook and Shane stepped in, making Skye's head jerk from Daryl's shoulder. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Daryl got up and left the RV. Skye watched as he retreated and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"So," she half-heartedly smiled at Shane. "Want to finish showing me how to take this thing apart?"


	7. Collapse

Rolling the hunting kit Carl had found out onto the hood of the truck, Rick said, "Everybody takes a weapon." Skye stared down at the various knives and hatchets that it contained.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea shot at him, hands on her hips.

"You're kidding, right?" Skye fired.

Andrea just gave her a look as if she didn't get it.

"Guns attract walkers. These don't. Stop going crazy over the guns and learn to play it smart," Skye shot at her, earning a smirk from Daryl. She was so tired of Andrea freaking out over the guns.

"No one asked you."

"But she's right. Skye, Rick and I are the only ones carryin'. Don't need any of ya'll poppin' off every time a tree rustles," Shane took Skye's side.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about."

"Say someone fires at the wrong moment and a herd happens to be passin' by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane swung his backpack over his shoulder.

Skye reached down and grabbed a machete from the pack and looked up at Glenn who was checking out his new hatchet, smiling. "I don't know what you're complaining about anyways." She grinned. "These are way more fun to play with."

Daryl liked the way Skye thought. He smirked while tucking a knife into his belt loop. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek," Daryl announced, nodding. "It's her only landmark." Holding the strap of his crossbow, he headed off.

"Stay quiet, stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick addressed the group.

Skye stepped up next to Daryl who was getting the rest of his stuff together before leaving. He threw an old bottle into the bed of the truck, clearly annoyed.

"We should be out there by now," he complained. "Wastin' precious daylight while she fights over guns."

"I think they're about ready," Skye tried to say something positive.

He looked over at her and she looked at him, concerned. It drove him nuts how it seemed she could look straight through him. Looking away, he said, "I would kill for some nicotine right now."

Her hand flew to her pocket. "Why didn't you say something sooner? Found these when I went on that gas station run with Shane and T-Dog." She pulled out the pack of cigarettes.

Daryl's eyes went straight to the small box she held out to him. It was like she was handing him gold. Just as he was about to reach out for them she pulled back.

"You know what, I'll onto these until after we go looking for Sophia. Be a nice reward."

Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, "Fine. But I'll hold ya to it." The sound of Andrea getting into it with Dale halted their conversation. Not just theirs but everyone seemed to stop what they were doing. Everyone stood awkwardly as Andrea yelled at him for taking her choice away. Daryl looked up to see Skye stared over at them with a hard look on her face. He could tell it really got to her when Andrea went off on Dale. Andrea wasn't everyone's favorite person, but Skye really seemed to hate her. Finishing with Dale, Andrea walked past where Daryl was standing and off towards the woods. Everyone fell in behind her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Daryl led the group as they trudged on through the forest with eyes wide opeN with Skye bringing up the rear with Shane. They walked on in silence until Carl fell back holding his weapon out to show it off to Shane.

"Shane, look! Dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I-"

"Keep it down!" Shane hushed him, cutting him off.

Skye watched as the young boys face fell, disappointed.

Looking behind them, Shane added, "Looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task." Shane slowed so that Carl could catch up to his mother.

Laurie gave Skye a questioning look. Skye just shrugged, not knowing what to say to her. Shane faced front and fell in step with Skye.

"What was that for? He was so excited and you shot him down."

"It was nothing, Skye. Don't worry about it."

Skye looked up sadly as Laurie and Carl looked back at them. "Just didn't have to be so harsh."

"Didn't have to be nothin'. I ain't his father."

"But he looks up to you. Respects you."

"Yeah, well, he ain't my responsibility."

Skye looked over at him with disbelief. "Are you really that cruel?"

He looked over at her, not knowing what to say.

Up ahead of them, Daryl and Rick came to a stop, signaling for the group to be quiet. Skye could see what looked to be a campsite. Making it up to Rick and Daryl, Shane continued with them towards the tent. Rick motioned for everyone else to stay where they were. Skye's heart sped up as she watched Daryl pull his knife from his belt and creep towards the tent door. He tried peeking in the side, but didn't seem to be able to see in completely. Instead, he waited by the door.

"Carol," Rick called. Carol walked quickly to his side. He seemed to be telling her something but no one could hear.

"Sophia, sweetie. Are you in there?" Carol called out softly. "Sophia, it's mommy."

While she waited to see if there was movement from the tent, Skye caught herself staring at the muscles in Daryl's arms, all tensed up from being ready to strike at any given moment. Embarrassed, she tucked the strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear and looked away.

"Sophia, We're all here, baby. It's mommy."

There was nothing.

Rick crept up next to Daryl as he began to unzip the tent. Pulling back the flap, he drew back with a cough then leapt in. Rick and Shane bent over, coughing.

"Daryl?" Carol called. "Daryl?"

Daryl reappeared in the opening. "It ain't her." He looked like he was about to be sick.

"What's in there?" Andrea stepped forward.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Is that what he called it?" He swung his crossbow back over his shoulder.

They all looked to the sky as church bells began to ring out, filling them with a new sense of hope in finding the girl. Daryl pointed in a direction and they all took off. They came to a more wide-open area in the woods.

"What direction?" Shane looked all around them.

"I think that way," Rick said, pointing in front of them.

"Are you sure?" Skye tried narrowing in on where they were coming from.

Shane shook his head, not knowing the answer. "Damn, it's hard to tell out here."

"Well, if we're hearing them then maybe Sophia does, too," Carol pointed out.

"Someone's ringing those bells. Maybe calling others." Glenn walked alongside her.

"Or signaling they found her," Andrea said the first positive thing she'd said in days.

"She could be ringin' them herself," Rick quickened his pace.

"It sounds like it's coming from over here," Skye jogged ahead. She darted in and out of trees fearful the bells would stop before they could find where they were coming from. They kept getting louder and louder until finally a small white building came into view. Headstones decorated the surrounding area.

"That can't be it. It don't got no steeple. No bells," Shane observed, but that didn't stop Rick. "Rick!"

Rick pushed past Skye and kept moving toward the building unconvinced. They all sprinted behind him, closing the distance between them and the church. Going around the side, they found a set of big red doors. Skye stopped at the base of the stairs with her hand on her machete. Daryl and Rick stopped at the doors waiting to give the ready. Each with a hand on a door, they gently pressed them open simultaneously. They creaked open and three figures could be seen sitting inside. The three turned and looked out at the humans. Shane and Skye stepped up behind Daryl and Rick taking it all in. Rising all together, the three walkers kept their eyes on them. Laurie handed a machete to Rick who stalked to the left side of the room drawing the tall male walker to him, away from the others. Shane went up the middle and Daryl, grabbing a hatchet from Glenn, went to the right. Skye slowly trailed behind him checking the aisles for walkers on the floor. With a grunt, Rick swung his machete down into the head of the tall male repeatedly, knocking him to the ground. Shane marched up to the elder walker. Grabbing it by the throat, he stabbed his knife right into its forehead. The female noticed Daryl coming up the side, but couldn't decide if she wanted him or Shane. As she turned back around for Daryl, he sliced the hatchet through the air, terminating her. She fell towards him but he shuffled out of the way. Skye's eyes widened as she saw another rise up behind him. Right as the walker reached out, she thrust her machete forward, penetrating its skull.

Daryl spun around and saw the walker standing behind him with a blade protruding from its forehead, blood dripping to the floor. He took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow at her. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

Rick and Shane finished their brutal attacks on the already taken down walkers. Angry as hell at their findings, Rick screamed "Sophia!" and threw the side door open hoping for a sign of life.

Skye wiped her machete off on a nearby walker's shirt and returned it to its sheath.

"J.C., taking requests?" Daryl stood in front of the figure of Jesus, before turning back down the aisle.

Being here made Skye anxious. She had never been comfortable in churches. Her head fell and she heard Shane saying something again about there being no steeple just in time for the bells to start to ring out again. They all burst back through the church doors. Daryl was the first to make it around the corner of the building but stopped and lowered his head in defeat. Skye reached him and saw why. There was a speakerbox attached to the gutter. Glenn went to the small panel that was attached to it. Ripping the wires from it, he shut it down.

Daryl turned to the others. Raising Glenn's hatchet above his head he informed, "A timer. It's on a timer." He attempted to regain his breath.

Skye turned from the group and wandered towards the cemetery. She jumped up and sat on a large marble headstone. Carol, Rick, Laurie and Carl had headed inside and Shane and Andrea walked away the other direction. Reaching into her pocket she drew out the chain with the pendant. Holding it in her hands she looked down into it. Rubbing a finger gently over the lily, she muttered, "I miss you so much. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you." Tears began to flood her eyes and she didn't even notice the pair of green eyes that were now on her, watching as this strong girl broke down in front of them.

Daryl cleared his throat and Skye brought her now tear-filled eyes up to him. He had never seen her like this and he was at a loss. Back at the RV she had been upset over Sophia, but this was different. She was mourning. He saw a new side to her, an emotionally vulnerable one and in that moment he knew that she was just as lost as the rest of them. She may put on a tough act and sit off to the sidelines but she was just as damaged as everyone else. She was just like him. He didn't say anything.

Skye was embarrassed. It had been so long since she had let anyone see her cry, to see how weak she truly was. But there was no sense in hiding it. Not anymore. To her surprise, he didn't run off or make a snide remark. Instead he walked up next to her and hesitantly wrapped an arm around her shoulder pulling her in tight. Afraid of what she would do next, Daryl waited. Suddenly she turned into him and buried her face in his chest and began to let it all out. She couldn't help herself. She yearned for someone to hold her and make it all alright. All she wanted to do was let everything go and not have to hold it in anymore, not have to hide things away and pretend to be someone she wasn't. Tugging on a handful of his shirt, she leaned on him as if he was her rock. Daryl felt his heart melt for her. It was devastating to see someone he viewed as so strong crumble before him. He wrapped his other arm around her and held her to him. It was the only thing he could think to do. This was a first for him. They stayed there like that for another minute or two before he lifted her chin up with his index finger, raising her watery eyes to his.

Biting on his lip before he spoke, "No more burying this away. Ya keep this stuff inside ya, it'll eat away at your humanity. That happens and you may as well be one of these lifeless bastards were runnin' from." Deep down she knew he was right.

Skye breathed, trying to gain composure. Her eyes were so broken. Thoughts of what they may have looked like before this world took the life from them crossed his mind. Looking past her, he saw the others exiting the church and heading their way. "Everyone is on their way back. Might wanna dry your eyes if ya don't want them seein' ya like this." She nodded and ran her hand over her face. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself. Grabbing her hand, Daryl helped her down from the headstone and they rejoined the others.

**I'm trying to post as often I can without rushing through the story. Should be able to get another chapter posted tomorrow night. **** Reviews? Anyone? lol**


	8. Submerged

Rays of sunlight shone down through the leaves, but were slowly diminishing as the sun lowered in the sky. The sound of insects hummed through the air and was only accompanied by the crunching of leaves as Skye and the others made their way back to the highway.

"So this is it? This the whole plan?" Carol sat down on a fallen tree.

Daryl leaned against a tree behind her. "I guess the plan is to whittle us down to smaller and smaller groups."

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea looked over to Laurie and Skye knew she was going to start on her. "I see you have a gun."

"Why? You want it?" Laurie stepped over the trunk to Andrea, holding the gun out in her hand. "Here, take it." Skye was amused to see Laurie was having none of Andrea's attitude. "I'm sick of the looks you're givin' me."

Andrea stared back at her as she had just been smacked in the face and yet she took the gun.

"All of you," Laurie added as she sat down. She glanced up at Skye and gave her an apologetic look, but Skye knew she wasn't talking about her. Skye knew Rick was doing everything he could, and then some. Laurie cocked her head to the side and spoke to Carol, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it, but you've got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. And when Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know if any of us would've gone after her the way that he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make, or that any of us could have done it any differently." Laurie waited, but no one said anything. "Anybody?"

Daryl looked down at her, then up to Skye who was looking down into the leaves while Laurie continued on. He knew he would have gone after her had he been near and deep in his gut he knew Skye would have, too. After seeing her the way she was back at the church he knew she had a heart. She wasn't as cold as everyone else thought she was.

Shaking her head, Laurie went on, "Ya'll look to him and then you blame him, but he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

Skye sat back wanting to say something, to tell her she had no doubt Rick was a good leader. But she didn't. Instead, she watched as Andrea handed the gun back to Laurie.

"We should keep moving."

Everyone grabbed up their things and was on the move again.

Laurie's rant had everyone walking in silence and while the other's walked in front of her Skye couldn't help but let her mind wander to just two hours before. In her absent-minded state she had let herself go and Daryl had been there to witness it. She wasn't comfortable knowing someone had seen her weak side. But of all people she wouldn't have expected him to be so understanding and comforting. He had just let her cry while he held onto her and it was something she had so desperately needed. Now she didn't know how to act around him. Glancing up to the front she saw him look at her over his shoulder. What if he looked down on her now knowing she wasn't as tough as she pretended to be?

A gunshot cracked through the air interrupting her thoughts entirely. She spun to look behind them. What if Rick had run into trouble? No, there would be more than one gunshot if it had been that bad and they know better to use a gun in the first place. Laurie stepped up in front of Skye, staring into the direction the shot had been fired from.

"What on earth was that?"

"Gunshot," Daryl answered, stopping next to Skye.

"I know, but why?" She hid the worry in her voice, but it was plain as day on her face.

"Come on," Daryl urged Laurie, who still stared out into the woods. Skye was sure all sorts of scenarios were running through her mind, not one of them good. She gave Daryl a look.

Shifting with unease, Daryl changed his tone to a much softer one, just above a whisper. "I'm sure they're fine. We don't even know it was them." Laurie turned to face him. "We need to keep moving."

With a nod, Laurie adjusted her backpack and moved past them. Daryl exchanged glances with Skye before going back to lead the group. With one last glance out into the forest, Skye followed behind them.

Only about fifteen minutes had passed since the shot had been heard and Laurie turned back around to inspect the woods.

"Laurie?" Skye implored.

The others turned at the sound of Skye's voice. Andrea noticed Laurie in her worried trance. "You still worrying about it?"

"Yeah, it was a gunshot."

"We all heard it." Daryl eyed the forest.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker," he shrugged.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

Laurie was beginning to worry Carol. "Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?"

Daryl shook his head. "There's nothin' we could do about it anyways. It's no good runnin' around this place chasin' echoes."

"So what do we do?" Laurie stood firm.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia. Work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV," Andrea backed Daryl up.

Defeated, Laurie hung her head and moved on. Andrea and Carol were the only two who stood still. "I'm sorry for what you're going through." The others stopped to look at Andrea as she stepped up to Carol. "I know how you feel."

"Suppose you do," Carol forced a brief smile. "Thank you." Casting a look at Skye she shifted in place. "The thought of her out here by herself. It's the not knowin' that's killin' me. I just keep hopin' and prayin' she doesn't wind up like Amy."

Skye quickly looked away, knowing Carol had hit a soft spot.

"Oh my God, that's the worst thing I ever said."

"We're all hoping and praying with you," Andrea finally spoke. "For what it's worth."

"I'll tell you what it's worth." Skye looked back to see Daryl standing next to the two women. "Not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hopin' and prayin' cause we're goin' to locate that little girl and she's going to be just fine," he said matter-of-factly.

Skye admired his determination. She smiled weakly in his direction as he walked away adding, "Am I the only one zen around here? Good Lord."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The forest was beginning to darken more than Skye would have liked as it seemed their journey back was taking twice as long as before. Her boot heels dug into the soft mud at her feet making her all the more aware of how tired her legs were. The sweat at the back of her neck was nearing the point of being unbearable. Daryl walked alongside Glenn. He hadn't said a word to her since the cemetery and she hoped it was because he was focused on finding Sophia. But seeing him talking to Glenn she decided to see if she could get a word in with him. But to her dismay when Daryl saw her approaching he quickly ended his conversation with Glenn and stalked off in another direction.

Glenn gave her a confused look. "What was that about? You piss him off or something."

"Something I guess." Frowning, she turned towards Glenn. "Hey, I'm going to go over here by the creek real quick, okay? Need to cool off."

"Well, no wonder. You've been hiking around in that leather jacket all day. You crazy?"

She smirked and left him there to find the creek. Crouching down on one knee, she sat her bag on the leafy ground and jerked her jacket off. After stuffing it away, she reached down into the refreshingly cool water with cupped hands. There was instant relief as she splashed some to the back of her neck.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"How much farther?"

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards. As the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows," Andrea stated before walking off to the side.

Daryl and Glenn now led the group. "So, Daryl…"

"Yeah?"

"What's up with you and Skye?"

Daryl shot him a warning glance. "Whaddya mean?"

"You giving her the cold shoulder?"

"Nothin', little man. Just tryin' to find Sophia."

"She seemed to think it was somethin'."

"Yeah, well she's wrong." Truth was, Daryl wasn't sure what to say to her and kind of felt awkward around her after seeing her the way he did. Never in his life had he done something like what he had done for her back there and it scared him. Why would he do that? Especially for this one girl that he barely knew. A scream pierced the air.

"Andrea!"

They took off in the direction Andrea had disappeared in. They reached her just in time to see a woman ride up on a horse and bash it across the head with a baseball bat. Daryl had to give her points for style.

"Laurie! Laurie Grimes!"

"I'm Laurie!"

"Rick sent me you gotta come now!"

"What?"

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you gotta come now."

Daryl couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The girl was getting annoyed. "Rick needs you! Just come!" To Daryl's amazement, Laurie threw her backpack to the ground and rushed over to the girl.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know this girl! You can't get on that horse!"

"Rick said you have others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?"

"Uh huh," Glenn was in a trance.

"Backtrack to Fairbend Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. Name's Greene." With a kick to the horse, they were gone, leaving Daryl, Carol, Andrea and Glenn staring after them. The walker that had attacked Andrea sat up with a groan.

"Shut up," Daryl silenced it with an arrow to the head. He searched the area for Skye, but didn't see her anywhere.

"Where the hell is she?"

Glen looked up and realized whom Daryl was referring to.

"Oh, she went to-" He was cut off by the sound of a distant splash.

"Dammit!" Crossbow raised, Daryl sprinted towards the water, careful not to trip on limbs protruding from the grassy earth.

Skye struggled in the water as a walker bit at her, pinning her to the creek bed. Gasping for air when she could, she tried as hard as she could to avoid its jaws as it kept pushing her underwater. Her legs flailed around trying to kick it off of her sending water flying through the air. Her lungs burned as she failed to make it back up for water. Just as she was about to let go, the walker fell limp on top of her, but was almost instantly taken away. Bursting up for air, she coughed and spit water from her mouth. A strong hand grabbed hold of her and pulled her to the grass. Lying there still coughing she found Daryl's eyes looking frantically at her body for any sign of a bite. His hand went to her face, wiping wet hair that now clung to her face away. "You're okay, you're okay," he soothed as she found her breath. "Don't ever go off by yourself like that again. You hear me?" He was forceful, but she could hear the worry in his voice. "Come on." He helped her to her feet.

"What happened?" Glenn stood with fear in his eyes as the rest of the group caught up.

"Walker," Daryl answered. Everyone began to scan her for bite marks and were relieved when they didn't see any blood.

Skye grabbed her bag and without saying a word continued back towards the highway. Daryl and the others exchanged glances as she passed.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Once she saw the metal of the guardrail, Skye left out a relieved sigh. Seeing her climb over the rail in her state, Dale jumped up.

"What happened? Skye?"

Ignoring his question she just said, "I'll take watch."

Reaching the top of the RV she plopped down into the chair they had set up. Her muscles ached and had been screaming at her for the past hour. Down below her she could hear the others discussing leaving the area. She had heard Glenn mention a farm of some kind. Why would they be discussing leaving while Sophia was still out there? Listening in closer she could hear Daryl.

"Okay, we gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow mornin' is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight. Stay with the RV."

"If the RV's stayin', I'm stayin'," Dale chimed in.

"I'm not leaving without Sophia." Everyone looked up, squinting in the setting sun to see Skye standing on the RV. "I'm staying."

Daryl bit his lip.

"Thank you," Carol smiled to them.

Andrea held a hand up as if someone forced her to say, "I'm in."

Shaking her head, Skye crossed her arms.

Glenn wasn't happy about having to leave. But Dale fought him on it.

"- T-Dog could die, no joke."

Daryl walked over to his motorcycle. Moving some dirty rags he glared up at Dale before digging through his bag. When he withdrew his hand he had a bag full of prescription pill bottles. He threw the rags at Dale. "Keep your oily rags off my brothers motorcycle. Why'd you wait till now to say anything? I got my brothers stash." Sitting the bag down he began naming off the various pills. They all crowded around him, while Skye watched in shock from the RV. "Crystal, X,…. Don't need that." He pulled out a bottle, reading the label before tossing it to Glenn. "Some kickass pain killers. "Oxycyclene." He tossed another bottle to Dale. "Not the generic stuff neither. That's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." He shrugged it off and then took off through the multitudes of cars with Skye staring after him.


	9. Constellations

It was a peaceful night despite the chaotic day they had experienced. A cool breeze made a chill run up Skye's spine as she sat staring out over the endless cars still wet from her run in from the walker. Her unitard had been taking far too long to dry so she had removed her vest, but now sat with constant goosebumps tickling up her arms. There hadn't been a single sign of any walkers the entire time she had been on watch. Seeing all the cars full of people's personal belongings made her think about how alone they truly were and also about how outnumbered they had become. It was a sad truth that a huge percentage of the owners of these vehicles had been turned into walking death. Thoughts of old family road trips also ran through her mind. She had always grumbled when she had found out they would be going on one of their 'family adventures'. What she wouldn't give for one of those right now…

The RV shook slightly as she was joined on the roof. "Skye?"

Looking over her shoulder she looked back at Dale.

"I'll take over watch."

"Can't sleep?"

He shook his head.

"Me either." But she got up from her seat and grabbed her jacket from her bag, throwing it on.

"Hey, Dale!"

Skye and Dale looked down to see Daryl standing with his crossbow on his back.

"I'm goin' out to look around a bit."

"Is that safe?"

"Easy, old man. I know what I'm doin'."

"Wait," Skye called, hurrying down the ladder, jumping off about halfway down. Jogging up to Daryl, she said, "I want to help."

He looked at her, thinking it over, then jerked his head towards the trees ahead.

"Skye, here, take this," Dale threw a flashlight down to her and then they were off.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The woods were about pitch black. Rays of moonlight were blocked out by the vast leaves that swept above them. Skye could barely make out Daryl's figure even as he walked alongside her only about a foot away. His flashlight sent out a ray of light darting from left to right in search of any walkers or Sophia. Crickets filled the air with chirping mingling with the rustling of the leaves as they swayed in the night breeze. Even though she was with Daryl she couldn't help but feel nervous that a walker would jump from the darkness, seizing her.

As if Daryl could sense her nerves, he asked, "You scared?"

"A little," she understated.

"Don't worry. No walkers are gonna get us . Not tonight anyhow. Won't be out here very long."

"How are we going to find Sophia? I can't even see you without shining my light on you."

"Thinkin' she might see the light and run towards it."

Skye nodded.

"But honestly, I just couldn't stand it in that RV anymore. Between Carol's cryin' and Andrea sittin' there messin' with my clip."

"They're just worried."

"Carol, maybe. But Andrea," he shook his head. "She's just bat shit crazy. Just itchin' to get her hands on a gun."

Skye couldn't argue there. "Some don't think we'll even find her."

"What the hell is wrong with these people? We just started lookin'. Ain't the mountains of Nevada. It's Georgia. She's probably holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and survive. Happens all the time."

"But she's just a little girl. Scared, in a strange place. She doesn't understand how to find things in the woods to make her way back."

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods eatin' berries and wipin' my ass with poison oak."

Skye smiled to herself. "But they found you, right?"

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in Juve. Didn't even know I was gone. Made my way back, went straight in the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched somethin' awful."

Skye shone her light over in his direction. She laughed lightly and he did something unexpected. He laughed along with her. It was the first time she had seen him actually laugh and it was genuine. Going back to sweeping her light in front of them, her mouth spread into a smile.

"Only difference is Sophia's got people lookin' for her. I call that an advantage," he assured.

As Skye's light swept back and forth she caught a glimpse of something reflective. "What's that?"

Daryl looked to where her light went by again, yet more slowly to try to find the same object. "There." He pointed and they crept up through the bushes. Pushing a branch out of the way, a campsite came into view and they saw the reflective object was a part of the tent. There was a fire pit in the center and Daryl walked around it, crossbow raised. Skye's right hand rested on her machete as she shined the flashlight with the other, catching sight of something moving in the tree.

In a whisper, she said, "Daryl!" He looked over at her followed her flashlight to the leaves shaking above. Gesturing for her to get behind him, he moved in. Drawing in, they could see a walker hanging in the tree.

"What the hell?" Daryl looked down and noticed a piece of paper attached to the tree trunk. "Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit." Stepping back, he added, "Dumbass didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself in a swingin' piece of bait. A mess."

Skye took notice of the legs. They had been gnawed on till they were just a mess of bone and ligaments. She felt her stomach turn a bit, but not because of the gorey mess that hung before her. Seeing him hanging there struggling to get down to her, to feast on her flesh, made her realize this could be her fate. Not the hanging from the tree part, but turning into something so mindless that only knew one thing. Hunger for human flesh. What if it came down to it and she was out of ammo or lost her guns entirely. Her only hope was that someone would be there to shoot her in the head, preventing that fate.

Daryl stopped at the front of the tent and turned. Seeing her standing there gazing up at the camper, he walked up behind her. "You wanna live now? Or not?"

She just stared at him.

"It's just a question."

Looking back at the walker she thought back to that day at the CDC how he had fought to keep her from staying behind, from letting it all end there… from giving up.

"If I give you an answer will you shoot him? Put him out of his misery? No one deserves this."

He nodded. "Mhm."

Yet again, she returned her eyes to the hanging meaty mess. "After your talk at the CDC about finding something worth finding for, it made me want to keep fighting, searching. I want to live only to find out if there is something truly worth living for in this world. Something worth risking a fate like this and to live in terror everyday and have to constantly look over your shoulder. I want to find that one thing that makes fighting worth it. After everything, I owe it to her."

Daryl was confused. "Who?"

Turning around Skye replied, "Riley." She walked past him. From behind her she heard the bolt surge through the air and then the movement in the tree ceased.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Daryl was sitting on the RV watching out over the highway when he felt someone join him. He checked to see who it was and froze. Skye stood there setting a blanket on the roof but it was the sight of her that kept his eyes to her. Now without her jacket and vest he saw the unitard she kept hidden underneath them. Its spaghetti straps clung to her shoulders dropping down into a v stopping just above her navel. Realizing his eyes were following her curves as she spread the blanket out on the RV, he cleared his throat. "What're you doin'?"

"You don't mind if I join you, do you? Want to enjoy this beautiful night sky."

"You need sleep."

"Not tired," she lied. She lied back on the blanket staring up into the wondrous view above them, admiring the stars. Each and every one was beautiful. One good thing that came from the world being the way it was now was that there was no light pollution. It was amazing how much clearer the sky was. Where before you could only see the little white star shining in the blackened sky, now it was as if you were staring into the heart of the universe. The colors themselves were astonishing, and the amount of stars and whatnot that could be seen was overwhelming. It completely blew Skye's mind.

"I wish I had taken the time to learn the constellations."

"Huh?"

"You know, in the stars."

"I know what a damn constellation is," he rolled his eyes.

"Sorry. Just wish I hadn't taken them for granted."

Pushing up from the lawn chair, Daryl sat his crossbow down and closed the space between them, crouching down next to her. "It's easy. See, this one here."

Skye leaned up on one elbow bringing her face in closer to his to follow his gaze and where he pointed. "Yeah."

"That's Canis Minor. And here," he moved slightly. "Is Gemini… Cancer… Monoceras…"

"How'd you learn all these?" Skye asked, impressed.

"My uncle. He's the one who taught me how to track. My dad was never really around much and if he was he was drunk off his ass." He looked down at her. The way the moonlight hit her hair that fell in loose waves around her face, and her eyes that shone brightly back at him. Biting his cheek, he looked down and something shiny caught his eye.

"What's that?"

Skye saw where he was looking and picked her pendant up into her hand. She held it out so he could see it better. Smiling faintly, she said, "It was my sisters."

Daryl swallowed hard, remembering it was what she had held when he caught her in the cemetery. Taking it in his hand he saw the beautiful flower in the center of the stone.

"It's a Stargazer Lily. I was told once they represented the freeing of one from obstacles and worry." She let out a small laugh. "How fitting…"

"What was her name?"

"Riley," she smiled fondly.

Daryl realized it was the name she had mentioned in the woods. He handed the pendant back to her and stood, picking at his finger. "Older?"

"Younger." A tear escaped her eye but as quick as it had came it had been wiped away.

"I'm sorry." Sincerity filled his voice.

"How about your brother? Merle? Is he younger?"

"Nah. I'm his 'baby brother'."

Hearing that Daryl was the youngest didn't particularly surprise her at all. They sat there, not saying a word, while they looked up into the night sky. It made Skye feel like everything here on this planet was so insignificant compared to the vastness of space.

"I always wanted to go to space See, what's out there for myself, ya know?"

"Not me. I like my feet where they are… firmly planted on the ground." Skye raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know what I mean."

"Aww, come on, Daryl. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I got all the adventure I need. Nowadays, I have more than I want." "Don't we all."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Skye. Skye, Wake up, dear."

Skye's eyes fluttered open and saw Carol standing over her. Pushing her self up to a sitting position she realized she was still on the roof of the RV.

"We're gettin' some food and supplies together. I was wonderin' if you can make the sign up."

"Of course, Carol. I would love to do that for you. I'll do it right away," Skye smiled at the broken woman.

"Thank you."

Skye jumped up and stretched her arms above her head in attempt to wake up.

Searching through the abandoned cars, Skye found a child's finger painting set. Snatching the white paint from the case, she hurried back to where she found the others placing food on a car hood. Popping the cap off she spread some paint onto her index finger. Carefully, she spelled out, 'SOPHIA STAY HERE. WE WILL COME EVERY DAY'. Stepping back to make sure it would be visible from a distance, she dropped the empty tube onto the ground and went to wipe her hands in the grass. Daryl's motorcycle sprung to life and everyone headed to get into the other vehicles. Dale tossed a set of keys to her.

"Here. You drive Shane's car. We'll follow you."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Pulling up into the driveway the woman on the horse had mentioned, they saw they were coming up on a fairly large white farmhouse. It looked welcoming, cozy. They were greeted by many unfamiliar faces as well as some they knew. Rick and Laurie moved to the front.

"How is he?" Dale breathed.

Laurie's face lit up. "He'll pul through. Thanks to Herschel and his people –"

"And Shane," Rick inserted. "Carl wouldn't be alive if it not for him."

Shane lifted his gaze to Skye, who stood taking in his new look. The haircut she liked, but she thought he was taking the new farm aspect too seriously with his baggy overalls.

Dale wrapped Rick into an embrace while Carol followed his example with Laurie. The rest of the group began to exchange hugs, all the while Daryl and Skye hung back.

"How'd it happen?"

"Hunting accident." Rick rubbed his chin.

"Everything else go smoothly with you guys?" Laurie looked out seeing they were still only short Sophia.

"Just the two attacks. No bites."

"Two?" Laurie was shocked. "But who-?"

"After you rode off on that horse Skye got knocked into the creek with a walker," Daryl piped up.

Laurie's hand went to her chest. "Oh my god."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we should go ahead and have the service for Otis," a white haired man Skye assumed to be Herschel suggested.

All in agreement, everyone followed him to where a pile of stones sat under a tree.

Throughout the service, Skye couldn't help but notice Shane acting strangely. It even more evident when asked to say a few words about the man that had sacrificed himself for Carl. He seemed really twitchy, as if he was constantly on alert. It was something that worried her. She saw a group of them crowded around a truck looking to be talking about the search for Sophia. Stepping up next to Herschel she was just in time to see his daughter Maggie laying a map out onto the hood. She caught Daryl's eyes just briefly before observing the map.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Shane shifted.

"We'll grid the whole area. Start searching in teams," Rick advised the group.

"Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't hike five minutes in this heat before passing out." Switching his attention from Rick to Shane, Herschel continued, "And your ankle. Push it and you'll be laid up a month. No good to anyone."

"Guess it's just me then. I'm going to head back to the creek. Work my way up from there."

"I can help, too," Skye spoke up, peeved at Daryl for forgetting about her. "Just tell me where you need me."

Rick nodded.

"I could still be useful. Head back to the interstate and see if Sophia wandered back there," Shane scratched at his head.

"Tomorrow then. We'll start doin' this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. We need to get them the training we've promised."

Shane's words had Andrea leaning on the truck, anxious.

"I'd prefer it if your people weren't carrying guns. We've made it this far without turning this into an armed camp.

Putting his hands on the truck, Shane shook his head, "With all do respect, get a crowd of those things runnin' in here-" He chuckled at the thought.

Rick lowered his head. "We're guests here. This is your property. And we will respect that." He looked to every one of their group as he spoke the last sentence, stopping on Shane. Pulling his gun from the back of his pants, he placed it on the hood with a thud. Frustrated, Shane did the same. Skye jerked both out of hers from their holsters and laid them in front of her. She had no problem respecting Herschel's wishes, but she would be lying if she said it didn't make her nervous. Sharing a glance with Shane, she saw him biting his lips to keep his mouth shut.

"First things first, set up camp and then find Sophia."

"Now, I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that," Shane pointed out.

Uncomfortable, Rick replied, "You do what has to be done."

"And her mother, what do you tell her?" Maggie looked upset.

"The truth."

Skye could tell this really upset Maggie. The look she had given her father was that of worry and fear, as if she knew something Herschel didn't want them to know. He shook his head at her.

"I'll gather and secure all weapons. Make sure no one is carryin' till we're at a practice range offsite. We would request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience," Shane offered.

Everyone looked to Herschel.

In an attempt to persuade Herschel Rick spoke, "Our people would feel safer. Less inclined to carry a gun."

Herschel reluctantly nodded.

"Thank you."

Skye walked off, followed by Daryl and Shane. Shane went around collecting the guns into a bag. Skye slowed to allow Daryl to catch up to her.

"What was that?"

"What was what, Skye?"

"You now I can help. You know I'm just as dedicated to finding her."

"Never said you weren't."

"Then why say it's just you?"

"I said I knew you wanted to help, didn't say I needed it. Better on my own. Don't need to be looking after you and splittin' my focus in half."

"You don't have to look after me."

"Look, you're not going. You'll just drag me down."

Skye stopped and shot him a glare. "You're an ass."

Daryl just kept walking. Why was he letting her get into his head? This was a time he needed to stay focused and she was making it harder and harder. Sure, she could say he didn't have to look out for her, but that's all he could find himself doing while she was out there with him. Her getting hurt was the last thing he wanted to see and he didn't know why. Finding his way around the house he stomped towards the woods.

"Daryl!"

Daryl slowed to see Rick coming over to meet him.

"You okay on your own?"

"Better on my own." Why did everyone think he needed people around mucking up the trail? "Don't worry I'll be back before dark." He went back on his way.

"Hey!" Rick stopped him yet again. "We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now."

"You gotta point or we just chattin'?"

"My point is it let's you off the hook. You don't owe us anything."

"My other plans fell through." This time Daryl didn't stop, but kept on moving for the forest. Of course he didn't owe them anything. What the hell was Rick going on about? Daryl was dedicated to this group. He could've left ages ago and yet he was still here. Despite the fact he knew he could make it on his own, something just held him here.

Skye walked along behind Shane and Andrea as they headed back to the farm after their trip to the highway. There was no sign that Sophia had been back. None of the food had been touched. Carol walked a few feet to her right clearly feeling down after not seeing Sophia sitting there waiting for them. Shane and Andrea stopped ahead at a fence so Skye turned to Carol.

"Daryl's going to find her Carol," Skye reassured her.

Carol just kept staring out into the field.

"I know how it feels to lose family but I can't imagine losing a child. I just want you to know I have every faith that she will be found. You'll be holding her in your arms soon. I believe that."

Carol turned to her with tears in her eyes.

Shane and Andrea were on the move again.

"Now let's go make that RV nice and pretty for her arrival."

Skye was sitting at the table in the RV when Daryl stepped in looking around the place like he was confused. He walked right past her back to Carol who was sitting mending a blanket. Skye listened.

"Cleaned up," Carol said. "Wanted it to be nice for her. It was Skye's idea."

Daryl looked back towards Skye and back to Carol. "For a second I thought I was in the wrong place." There was a sound as if glass was sat on the table.

"A flower?"

"It's a Cherokee Rose. The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grievin' and cryin' so much because they were losin' their little ones along the way. Exposure and disese… starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer asking for a sign to uplift the mother's spirits. Give them strength. Hope. The next day, this rose began to grow right where the mother's tears fell." He paused. "I'm not fool enough to believe there are any flowers bloomin' for my brother."

Skye's heart sank.

"But, uh- I believe this one… it bloomed for your little girl."

Skye couldn't take it. She had to leave. Getting up she walked out as quietly as possible. Not knowing exactly where she was going, she ended up finding herself at the fence lining the property. Leaning on the fence she looked out over the field, thinking of her family. She wished they were here with her now. Her parents had always talked about wanting to leave the city to live on a farm. Skye had always been against it. But here she was.

Suddenly, there was a white flower in front of her face. Taking it, she looked down at the velvety soft petals. Daryl leaned on the fence next to her. She didn't look over at him, but kept looking at the flower in her hand.

"There were two blooms. Figured that one was for Riley."

"Thank you," she replied quietly. They stood there in an awkward silence for a good five minutes before Daryl drew her attention.

"Look, Skye. I want to say I'm sorry. For earlier." He fidgeted in place anxious from not being used to apologizing to anyone. He silence was just making it all the more worse. As he looked at her he noticed she was no longer in her all black leather outfit but now wore some short jean shorts with a brown belt, and a flannel long sleeve shirt that she had rolled the sleeves up. She had also tied the bottom of it in a knot, revealing her lower midriff. Her black boots had been replaced with a brown pair that reached just below her knees. "So, where'd you get the new clothes?"

Glancing over at him, she said, "Maggie loaned them to me. All she had left was long sleeves though. It's hot as hell."

He liked the new look, and it wasn't just about the clothes. It also made her look less hardened and more… sweet. He imagined this was closer to how she would've looked before the outbreak. "I like it."

Her head turned and she smirked at him, not used to getting compliments, especially from Daryl. "Come on, Daryl, you're going to make me blush."

He shook his head and looked down, smiling in embarrassment.

"What do ya say we go grab some of this wonderful food we've been hearin' about?" He nudged her arm.

She nodded and she let him guide her back towards where the group sat around the fire.

**I want to thank you guys for the wonderful PM's. 3 I'm trying to make the chapters as long as possible without running them too long or if they have to stop to benefit the story. As always… I would love some reviews. Getting feedback really pushes me to keep posting. J Thanks!**


	10. Visions

"Alright, everyone's getting a search grid. If she made it to the farmhouse Daryl found she might've gone further east than we've been lookin'." Rick stood leaning over the map on the hood of the truck.

"I'd like to help." The boy everyone had come to know as Jimmy stepped up, eyeing the group. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

Jerking on a flannel shirt, Daryl surveyed the boy, doubting his ability.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, he said I should ask you."

Skye had a feeling the boy was lying with the way his eyes darted around while he answered the question.

"Alright, then. Thanks."

"Nothin' about what Daryl screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse," Shane said from the passenger seat of the truck.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea shifted.

""Whoever slept in that cupboard was n bigger than yay high." Daryl held a hand up indicating someone about four feet tall, sounding disappointed someone was questioning his judgement.

"Makes perfect sense to me," Skye smiled at him.

"Good lead," Andrea agreed.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick gave Daryl a trusting look.

"No maybe about it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here." Daryl pointed at a spot not to far from where they were. "Get a bird's eye view. If she's down there, I'll spot her." His tone was softer, more relaxed. It was very different from the rough agitated one they all knew.

"Good idea," T-Dog crept up. "Maybe you'll see your Chupacabra up there, too."

Skye couldn't tell if he was joking or mocking him.

Rick looked between the two men. "Chupacabra?"

"What? You never heard this?" Dale seemed surprised.

Daryl placed his hands on his hips ready to defend himself, which got Skye all the more interested.

"First night in camp, Daryl tells us the whole thing reminds him of when he went squirell hunting and he saw a Chupacabra."

Daryl nodded at the group as Dale filled them in.

Jimmy let out a snort.

"What you brayin' at, jackass?"

"So you believe in a bloodsucking dog?"

"You believe dead people are walking around?" Daryl shot.

Skye had to admit he had a point. After this, who knows what could be real. She found herself to be a lot more open-minded nowadays.

Jimmy reached for the gun on the hood, but was stopped by Rick.

"Hey, hey. You ever fire one before?"

"Well, if I'm goin' out I want one."

Daryl swung his crossbow over his shoulder and walked around them. "Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees."

Standing up from the car, Shane spoke to the boy. "Why don't you come train tomorrow. If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor."

"For now he can come with us," Andrea spoke.

"He's yours to babysit then."

"Alright, Andrea, T-Dog. Why don't you guys take this area here." Rick's finger fell to the map. "Shane, you and Skye take this grid here."

Skye looked to where Rick's finger rested. Shane looked up to see he was receiving a warning glare from Daryl and he thought back to the CDC.

Ignoring him, Shane said, "Alright, girl. You got everything you need?"

Skye held her gun up.

"Alright, then. Let's move out."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

An awkward silence hung between them as Shane and Skye searched their grid. Skye kicked at the ground impatiently.

"Whatcha think' about?"

"Just family. Friends."

Shaking his head in disapproval, he said, "Don't waste your time on thoughts like that."

"And why's that?" She couldn't wait to hear his reasoning for something like that.

"Everything from before is gone. Classmates, work associates, friends… family. All of 'em. Ain't no thoughts goin' to bring 'em back."

"Doesn't make me miss them any less, Shane. I don't want to forget them."

"You should. There's no reason to dwell on the past. It's hard enough acceptin' the world as it is now without throwing guilt about the past into the mix. We need to move on."

"I'm sorry I don't find that as easy as you do," she said disgusted.

"We'll be adding more to that list if we keep following, Rick. So you better get used to it."

"That's awful, Shane."

"We're all spread, Skye. Riskin' everything for a little girl we ain't gonna find."

"How can you be so sure? You can't give up that easily, Shane."

"We're chasin' a ghost. This right here, right now. That's exactly what we're doin' and it's a waste of time." He cast a sideways glance at her. "And I think deep down you know that, too. She's gone."

In an instant he was up in her face.

"Ain't that, right? Just admit it."

"You don't know the first thing about what I think."

Shaking his head, he rested his hands on the gun that hung from his neck, stepping back in disbelief. "Yeah, whatever, girl." He walked past her.

Close behind him, she saw a blue cloth marker nailed to a tree.

"That's Andrea and T-Dog. We must've stumbled into their grid."

"Guess so." She turned around.

Sighing he stepped around her. "Skye…"

Stopping, she waited, looking into his eyes.

"I never apologized for that night when we arrived at the CDC."

Skye shifted uncomfortably.

"It wasn't me. Wasn't in my right mind."

"Alcohol isn't an excuse, Shane." She went to move by him.

He stepped in front of her. "That's not what I'm sayin'. Someone got into my head, made me feel… worthless. I just –"

Skye held her hand up, silencing him. "It's okay. I forgive you." And she truly did. Her belief was that if they couldn't learn to forgive each other, then the walkers had already won.

He nodded. "Thanks." Letting out held breath, he added, "And about this whole Sophia thing, it's not that I don't care about the little girl. It's just that I don't want to see others getting hurt or even killed because we're all out here searchin'."

"I understand, Shane. I really do. But don't let that change you. You can want to protect the group all you want, but don't let it turn you into some animal."

Shane stared off into the woods, thinking over her words.

"Now, come on. We should start lookin' some more."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Aiming down his sights, Daryl pulled the trigger, sending a bolt through the air to pin his prey to a tree trunk. As the horse he rode walked past it, he yanking the arrow from the tree with the squirrel still attached. He shoved it behind him.

"Whoa." He pulled back gently on the reins, stopping the horse.

In the stream ahead, a dead tree lied across the water, but it was what it was blocking that caught his eye. A doll. Daryl leapt down from the saddle and made sure to tie the horse to a nearby tree. Crossing the stream to the stranded toy, he picked it up, recognizing it at once.

"Sophia!"

Hurrying back to the horse, he whipped he leg up over its back and he continued towards his destination, the top of the ridge. Some birds burst out from a bush on his right, startling the horse a bit.

"Whoa, easy," he soothed.

His eyes were straining to search every inch of the woods around his but failed to catch sight of the danger ahead. A snake struck at the horse, making her rear up in a panic. Unable to calm her, he was flung from her back. His body tumbled through dirt, sticks, and hard rock, coming to a halt at the bottom. After landing in the water, he cursed at the sharp pain in his side.

"Son of a bitch!"

Leaning up slightly, he saw one of his trusty arrows jutting from his abdomen. Trying to gain some strength, he lied there a minute before attempting t crawl to the sandbar. He only got two steps in before falling hard to his knees again. Ripping his sleeves from his arms, he tied the together to create a tourniquet to keep the arrow from moving. Despite his injury, he was determined to make it to the top. Looking up he realized he was going to have to climb. Movement in a bush nearby caught his attention and he became aware that his crossbow was no longer on him. Grabbing a long stick he began to drag it around in the water in search of his weapon. Feeling the stick get stuck on something, he reached into the water to find the smooth feel of the bow. After finding it, he turned to face his next obstacle.

It was a long treacherous way up, but Daryl now only had to conquer the last foot. Getting himself pumped, he swung himself upward but fell short. Losing his grip on the root, he fell all the way back down. Then it was black.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Beginning to come to, the trees above were a blur and Daryl could hear the sound of the stream, frogs and footsteps in the sand. Vision clearing, he found himself looking into the blue eyes of his older brother.

"Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy? You could bind your wound better."

"Merle."

"Hmm. What's goin' on here? You takin' a siesta or somethin'?"

"My shitty day, bro."

"Like me to get you a pillow? Maybe rub your feet?"

"Screw you."

"You're the one that's screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent tryin' to make a man of ya, and this is what I get? Look at ya. Lyin' here in the dirt like a used rubber. You're gonna die out here, little brother. And for what?"

"The girl. They lost their little girl."

"So you gotta thing for little girls now?"

"Shut up."

"'Cause I noticed you ain't out there lookin' for old Merle no more."

"Tried like hell to find you, bro." Daryl's voice was weak.

"Like hell you did. You split man. Let out."

"No, you let out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for ya. Rick and I. We did right by you."

Merle gave him a look of disbelief. "This the same Rick that cuffed me to the roof in the first place. Forced me to cut off my own hand."

Daryl looked and saw that his hand was still intact.

"This who we're talkin' 'bout here? You his bitch now?"

"I ain't nobody's bitch."

"You're a joke is what you are. Why you stayin' round these fools anyhow? Can't cut it on your own?"

"A girl." A pair of blue eyes flashed in his mind.

"Hmph. Right. You're nothin' but a freak to them. Redneck trash. Yeah, they're laughin' at ya behind you're back. You know that, don't ya? Well, I got news for you, son. They're gonna scrape you off their heels like you were dog shit."

"She won't."

Merle cocked his head to the side.

"She ain't like that."

"She ain't your kin. Not blood. you And now listen to me. Ain't nobody gonna care 'bout you 'cept me. Not Rick. Not some girl. Ain't nobody ever will. Now come on. Get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in."

Merle began to jerk at Daryl's pant leg, but when Daryl opened his eyes it was no longer his brother, but a walker trying to gnaw through his boot. Panicking, he threw his boot into the walker's head, knocking it back. Scrambling back, he reached for his bow, but the geek got to him first. He punched not once, but three times, rolling on top of it. It grabbed a handful of his hair and rolled itself back on top of Daryl. Using its momentum, Daryl kept the roll going till he got it on its back. Seeing another approaching he quickly snatched a branch and rammed into the face of the walker underneath him ending its terror on this world. The other walker was a mere ten feet away. Lying back, Daryl pulled at the arrow in his side, grunting as he yanked it free. His breathing came quick as he struggled to ready his bow. Clicking it into place, he loaded the bolt just in time to lean back and fire it right into the walker's skull as it reached for him.

Daryl removed what was left of his flannel shirt and placed it on his wound, fastening it as a better tourniquet. Tightening the know, he said, "Son of a bitch was right."

Taking a seat on the dead tree, he cut into the squirrel he had recently caught and he fed. He made his way over to the walkers and took a shoestring from one of their boots. Once more he whipped out his knife and went to collect the rest of his necklace. A few minutes later, he held his new accessory up in front of his face examining his work. Four ears were strung along the shoestring, and he placed it over his head to hang from his neck. Looking up, he took a deep breath, finding new strength to be able to climb once again. But just as he reached that last foot from the top, Merle reappeared.

"What's the matter, Darleena? Throw me your purse and climb!"

Trying to get a better grip, Daryl shot, "I liked you better when you were missin'."

Merle just laughed. "Now, come on. Don't be like that. I'm on your side."

"Yeah? Since when?" Daryl wraped a loose root around himself, securing him.

"Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Someone had to look after your worthless ass."

"You never took care of me. You talk a big game, but you were never there. Hell, you ain't her now. Some things never change."

"Well, I'll tell you what. I'm as real as your Chupacabra."

"I know what I saw." Daryl gripped at the dirt.

Chuckling, Merle said, "Yeah and I'm sure those shrooms you ate had nothin' to do with it neither."

"You best shut the hell up!"

"Or what?" Merle growled, teasing him. "You going to come up here and shut my mouth for me? You best do it then. You ain't man enough. Hey, kick off them high heels and climb, son." Merle stood laughing mockingly making Daryl's adrenaline pump faster. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that girl you got back at the camp for ya. I'm sure she wants a real man anyhow."

That was the last push Daryl needed. Digging his fingers into the dirt at the top he clutched at the bark of a nearby tree, pulling his self up and over. Jumping up, he looked to tackle Merle, but he was gone.

"Yeah, you better run!"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Lighting gleamed off the metal of Skye's gun as she sat cleaning it. Finishing her second gun, she held it up in front of her, inspecting it with a proud smile. Across the picnic table, sat Shane working with his Glock 17. He sat there with his shirt unbuttoned, revealing the nice figure beneath. Skye couldn't deny the man was built and she was finding it hard to keep from staring. Shane noticed and flashed a cocky smile as she averted her gaze. The others bustled around trying to get some food ready after their long day of searching for Sophia.

"Walker!" Andrea's voice rang out from the top of the RV, setting everyone on alert. "Walker!"

"Just the one?" Rick asked as he approached.

Skye saw Andrea bring a pair of binoculars to her eyes. "I bet I can nail it from here."

Skye rolled her eyes. "Of course…"

"No! No!" Rick yelled. "Put the gun down!"

Shane jumped from the table and marched over. "You best let us handle this."

Skye placed her guns in their holsters and followed.

"Shane! Hold off." Rick held his hand up to his partner. "Hershel wants to deal with walkers."

"What for, man? We got it covered." Without further notice, he headed off into the field.

Skye exchanged glances with Rick.

"Dammit," he rushed over and grabbed his gun before the two ran after Shane.

Sprinting toward it, they saw the figure drawing closer. Rick lifted his gun as they stopped just feet in front of it.

Not believing her eyes, Skye pushed to the front of the group, whispering, "Daryl?"

Everyone looked surprised, and why wouldn't they be. His appearance was definitely shocking. It barely even looked like him. If it wasn't for his green eyes she probably wouldn't have known it was him. Dirt, blood and who knew what else coated his skin and wife beater. She eyed the fabric that had once been a flannel shirt tied around his waste, clearly covering a wound. Blood stained the area around his mouth, which wasn't nearly as shocking as the necklace hanging down around his chest. Her heart sank, and it wasn't until he spoke that they realized he was alive.

"Third time you've pointed that thing at my head." His voice had lost its softness it had earlier that day. "You gonna pull the trigger, or what?" His eyes looked to Rick's left, gluing themselves to Skye's.

A shot cracked through the air, and Daryl fell to the ground.

"No!" Skye screamed at the top of her lungs. Dropping to his side, she cried, "No! Daryl! Daryl, wake up! Please!"

He was breathing but blood was flowing from his head. As Shane and Rick each grabbed one of his arms, lifting him to his feet, he said, "I was kidding…"

Tears stung in Skye's eyes as she watched them carry him across the field. Her blood began to boil when she saw Andrea running towards them with Dale in tow. It took everything in her not to let Andrea have it.

"Oh my god, is he dead?" Andrea asked as she reached them.

Rick looked past her. "Unconscious."

Glenn fell in step with Rick. "But look at him. What happened? He's wearing ears." Glenn pointed to the necklace.

Rick yanked it from Daryl, and stuffed it into his shirt. "Let's keep that to ourselves."

Skye saw Daryl's legs dragging on the ground and she couldn't take it anymore. "You stupid gun happy bitch!" she yelled, whirling on Andrea. "Why couldn't you just listen when they told you not to shoot!? What're you trying to prove, huh!?"

"Easy, Skye," Shane warned.

"Guys," T-Dog called from behind them.

When they turned they saw him holding up a very familiar object.

"Isn't this Sophia's?"

All their eyes fell on the now unconscious Daryl.

**Poor Daryl. :*( This made me really sad writing it. I have to work late tonight and tomorrow, but I will try to get the next chapter posted asap. We have to see what happens when Daryl wakes up, right!? **** Reviews,reviews, reviews… Purdy purdy please! **


	11. Bedridden

"I didn't know! I couldn't see him!" Andrea stood trying to defend her actions. Dale stood with his hand on her back.

Skye was having none of it.

"So you don't see who it is and yet you shoot anyway!? That makes sense."

"What if he was a walker? Was I supposed to just let it get to the camp?"

"We were running out there! We could've handled it. It could've been Sophia finding her way to this farm!"

Andrea shook her head. "He was too tall."

"My point is, it could've been someone who needed help. And guess what, it was! Who knows what he went through to get back here. Then he makes it and gets shot!"

Andrea looked to the ground.

"Stop trying to be some kind of badass and use you're damn brain!"

Andrea's head snapped up. "Look, he's the one who had to go all lone ranger. He's too damn stubborn. It's kind of his fault he got shot. How was I to-" Andrea was cut off by Skye's fist colliding with her face. Her hand flew up to where she was struck, shock in her eyes.

"Whoa, hey!" Shane burst from the farmhouse doors. Stopping in front of Skye he put his hands on her shoulders, holding her back.

"How dare you!? He almost died looking for Sophia!" Skye fumed, glaring past Shane.

"Skye! Look at me…"

Skye met his gaze.

"We all know she's a crazy bitch," Shane stated. Andrea shot him a displeased look. "But why don't you go ahead and go inside. Daryl is getting stitched up but you should be able to go in and see him soon if you want."

Taking a deep breath and shooting Andrea one last glare, Skye followed his advice and headed inside.

Reaching the room he was in, she saw Lori sitting outside the door on the floor. Seeing Skye take the chair across from her, Lori asked, "You alright?"

Skye nodded with a brief smile.

"Heard screamin'. Giving Andrea hell?"

"Bitch deserved it."

Lori chuckled. "Yes, she did. She has a tendency to not think about how she's actually putting the group in danger. She's lucky she didn't kill Daryl."

The door opened and the two women got to their feet. Rick emerged and gave Lori a slight hug. Looking over at Skye he said, "He'll be alright." Lori and Rick walked out. Wringing her hands Skye waited, until finally Hershel exited the room.

"Skye, is it?"

She nodded.

"Could you do me a favor and grab him a rag and some warm water and help him wash up a bit. He's covered in blood and dirt."

She nodded.

After fetching the requested items, Skye knocked lightly on the door before entering. Daryl was lying back on the bed with his arms over his head. Seeing her he grabbed at the blanket, trying to cover himself, but he wasn't quite quick enough. Skye saw scars all over his arms and chest. They looked as if they went around to his back as well.

"Hey," she smiled weakly. She held up the rag and water. "Hershel asked me to help you clean up."

He didn't say anything, but watched as she sat lightly on the edge of the bed.

Submerging the cloth in the water and wringing it out, she looked to him. "What happened out there, Daryl?"

Flinching slightly as she dabbed gently at his face, he looked away. "Damn horse got spooked. Threw me off. Took a tumble down the cliff side."

"That how that happened?" She gestured to his side.

"Arrow got lodged in there."

The thought of that happening made her brow knit together and she rinsed the cloth off. Moving down to his neck, she thought to the ears. "What was up with the ear necklace?"

Daryl gave her a confused look.

"When we got to you, you had a shoelace with ears hanging from your neck. Rick took it off before Hershel saw."

"Beats me. I don't remember much that happened. Only thing I really remember was seeing my brother."

"Your brother was out there?" She found it really hard to believe.

"Wasn't really him. Think I was just in shock or something."

She nodded.

"Still had his hand," he nodded.

Skye rinsed the cloth once more, but when she went to move the blanket he grabbed her wrist.

"Don't."

"Daryl," she said softly. "It's okay."

"I can finish up. Just leave the water."

"You sure?"

"Don't want you rippin' my stitches out."

Sighing, Skye raised herself from the bed. "Okay, just holler if you need anything."

"Yeah, alright."

Her eyes met his once last time before she closed the door behind her.

* * *

The rocking chair creaked as it rocked gently back and forth on the porch. Skye had her legs tucked up into herself, her arms wrapping themselves around them. Today had scared her. Sure, it seemed like she was constantly scared nowadays, but this was different. The fear wasn't of walkers, but rather of losing Daryl. It was a fear that would've been realized if Andrea's aim had just been ever so slightly to the left. She also kept thinking back to the scars she had seen on his body. Why was he so ashamed of them?

Bringing Skye from her thoughts, Maggie poked her head out of the screen door. "Dinner's ready."

"Okay, thank you."

Seeing the way Skye stared out into the darkness, Maggie stepped fully out onto the porch. "You okay?"

"Just thinking."

Sitting on the railing, Maggie asked, "This about that man that got shot?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Maggie smirked. "Just seems like you two have some sort of connection."

"Connection?"

"You know, you guys sort of seem a lot alike. Plus there's the way you almost knocked that blonde back on her behind," Maggie laughed, bringing a smile to Skye's face.

"You think we're alike?"

"Haven't known you very long, but from what I've seen both of you try to keep to yourselves. Kinda stay on the outside of the group. Then there's how dedicated you both are to finding the woman's daughter. Seems like you care a lot about him."

"That it?"

"Among other things," she smiled.

Interrupting them before Skye could press for more, Carol popped her head out. "Come on, girls. Everyone's getting seated."

Skye followed behind Maggie towards the dining room. It felt nice to have a conversation with a girl her age, someone who would understand.

* * *

Daryl had laid listening to the clanking of silverware coming from the other room. He was almost glad he had gotten shot because it meant he didn't have to sit through that dinner. It was almost certainly very awkward in there, but truthfully he was starving. Trying to ignore the growling in his stomach, his mind began to wander and they ended up landing on Skye. The last thing he remembered hearing before passing out was her screaming and it pierced through his mind. He had to admit he felt bad about rushing her out earlier. She had only been trying to help him, but his damn scars haunted him everyday and he didn't want them to be a subject for them to talk about. There was a light nock at the door and he looked back hoping to see her face, but instead Carol stood holding a tray with a plate of food and a drink. He pulled the sheets up to cover his exposed skin.

"How you feelin'?"

"'Bout as good as I look."

Carol sat the tray down on the side table. "Brought you some dinner. You must be starvin'."

Daryl flinched slightly as the woman before him leaned down to plant a kiss on his head.

"Watch out. I got stitches."

She paused. "You need to know something."

He rolled to face her and waited.

"You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life."

Rolling back over, he said, "Didn't do anything Shane or Rick wouldn't have done."

"I know. You're every bit as good as them. Every bit." With that she left the room.

* * *

Skye had seen Carol making her way to Daryl's room with a tray of food so she had decided to wait a few minutes to give him some time to eat. Now she stood at his door taking a deep breath before knocking. Entering, she saw the try sitting empty on the tableside. He was facing the other direction. Assuming he was sleeping, she did her best to grab the tray and turned to leave.

"How was the dinner?" he asked, surprising her.

"Oh, um- tense." Her mouth jerked up into a quick smile.

"Figured as much." He rolled over to face her.

"Anything I can get for you?"

"Nah. I'm good."

"Alright." Turning back to the door, she went to pull the door shut.

"Skye?"

"Yeah?"

"Come back when you're done. Could use some company."

"Sure," she smiled.

On her way to the kitchen she saw Maggie hurrying out the front door. Shaking it off, she continued to where Beth was washing up the dishes.

"Where do you want this?"

"You can just sit it there. Thanks," Beth grinned.

Her boots beat on the wood floor as she returned to Daryl's room. Closing the door behind her, she sat in the chair across from him, which was a lot less comfortable than it looked. The room was full of cliché country décor, making her feel out of place.

"Heard Shane tellin' Rick we should call off the search."

"Yeah." Her head fell and she looked at her fingers that moved restlessly, nervous how he would take the news.

"Rick's not gonna do it, is he?"

"I don't believe he'd give up that easily."

"Do you think we should?"

"Of course not. We shouldn't abandon a little girl out there. Least we can do is find her no matter what state she's in. Carol deserves to know what happened to her. But that doesn't mean I think you should keep going out on your own." Her words came out sounding as if she was scolding him, which wasn't her intention, but she knew even after all of this Daryl would want to continue on as he had been.

"That right?"

"Yes."

"And what if I don't agree?"

Standing her ground, she answered, "That's just too bad. You almost died, Daryl. You're too important to the group for that to happen."

He stared out the window. "That why?"

Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She didn't know how to answer that.

"You just- You just can't go out alone, okay?"

No answer.

"Fine. If you're going to be that stubborn…" she said, giving him a confident look. "You should get some rest." Pushing herself up from her chair, she moved towards the door.

"Stay."

"What?"

"Stay," his eyes pleaded.

Sitting back down, she propped her head up on her hand. It wasn't long before she saw his eyebrows scrunch together as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Birds sang from outside Daryl's window as the curtains blew in with a soft breeze. Sunlight shone in, lighting up the room and Daryl saw Skye fast asleep in the same spot she had been in last night. She had sunk down into a little ball, shivering from the morning air. Daryl couldn't believe she had stayed there all night and in that uncomfortable chair nonetheless. Looking out through the window, he decided he couldn't stay cooped up in that house anymore. Letting Skye sleep, he took the blanket from the bed and threw it over her. A sharp pain radiated from his side as he overextended his reach. Holding his side, he walked out into the house to find someone to help him move out to his tent.

"Peach?"

Glenn held a basket full of peaches out to Skye.

"Sure." She grabbed two from him. "Thank you."

"No problem." He started to head off to hand out some more peaches.

"Hey, Glenn."

He turned. "Yeah?"

"Have you seen Daryl?"

"He's in his tent. Had me and Jimmy help him out there at the crack of dawn this morning."

She nodded in thanks and made her way to the center of their camp where she would find the tent, getting there just in time to see Andrea exiting. She saw her turn and flash Daryl a sweet smile. Skye turned to go back the way she had come.

"Hey, that for me?" Daryl called from his tent, stopping her in her tracks.

Caught, she turned back to his tent and entered. Holding up the extra peach, she raised her eyebrows and handed it to him. "Thought you may like it." She avoided his gaze, which Daryl noticed and laid watching her as she slid her hands into the pockets of her jean shorts. Daryl wondered why she was acting so strange. She had seemed fine last night.

Catching sight of a book, next to him she picked it up. "The Case of the Missing Man?"

"Yeah, Andrea just brought it by."

"Interesting choice of topic," her voice was full of irritation at the mention of Andrea's name. She put the book back down and looked around his tent. There wasn't much. Just some of his clothes, some handheld weapons and his crossbow sat in the corner with some bolts.

"So I hear you're the one who gave Andrea that shiner," he stated, making her stop fidgeting.

Still avoiding his gaze, she said nothing.

"Well did you?"

She just nodded.

"Hey," he said softly, and her eyes finally met his. "I appreciate the gesture."

She didn't know what to say. Pointing back over her shoulder, she said, "I should go. Rick wanted to talk to me before they headed out."

Nodding his head, he played with the feathers of the arrow in his hand.

Stepping out of the tent she looked back. "I'll come back to check on you in a little bit."

Daryl watched her go, wishing she had stayed a bit longer. He couldn't help but wonder if he had something to do with why she was acting different.


	12. Dissolution

"You're sure you don't want to go with us?" Rick stood with his hands on his hips.

Skye just shook her head. "I'm fine. They need your help more than I do. I'll stay behind here and help with what I can."

Cocking his head to the side, he eyed her. "You tell Daryl?"

"About what?"

"What you told me. About how people shouldn't go out alone."

"Yeah, but I don't think he liked the idea."

"I told Shane and the others we'll be working in pairs from now on. I don't want to risk another incident. Not again. I'm having Shane take a partner with him to this new housing development. Think it's a good lead on Sophia."

"Do you think he'll actually look?" she voiced her concern.

"He may not want to continue the search, but he'll still put the effort in. I trust him."

"Let's hope he finds something."

"Let's hope." Rick shifted his weight to his other foot and looked off to his left. "I'm gonna tell you something, but I'm trusting you'll keep it to yourself."

"What is it?"

"Hershel doesn't want us staying here. Wants us to be movin' on."

"How are we supposed to do that? Both T-Dog and Daryl are hurt and Carl is just getting back to normal."

"I'm working on getting him to let us stay, but in the meantime I want you to help me keep everyone from doing anything to piss Hershel off."

"No problem."

"Rick!" Shane called from the vehicles, ready to head out.

"Thank you, Skye. We'll be back in a couple hours or so."

"Be careful."

After her talk with Rick, Skye had cleaned her guns, and washed up some of Daryl's clothes for him before heading back to his tent.

"I have some of your clothes hanging up to dry. Should be done in a bit."

"What'd Rick want?" Daryl was curious, and it was really starting to annoy him having to stay put.

Sitting on the floor on the tent next to his bed, she let out a sigh. "Nothin' really. Just letting me know they were going out to shoot and that they found a lead. He's sending Shane and a partner to check it out."

Daryl eyed her, knowing she wasn't telling him everything. "A lead, huh?"

"A housing development. They think she may have made it there. There's a good chance."

"Be great if they came back with her. I think she'll really like the place."

She looked down at her lap, thinking to what Rick had said. "Yeah... she will."

The faint smile that was on her face made Daryl wonder what was up. Rick had to have said something else to her. There was the sound of car doors closing and through the tent window they saw that everyone but Shane and Andrea had returned.

"Looks like Shane found his partner," Daryl pointed out.

"Yep."

"Upset he didn't choose you?" Daryl questioned, his tone had a hint of irritation.

"No, why?"

"You two seemed to be getting' along awfully well despite the fact that he assaulted you."

"He's just trying to make things right."

"Make things right my ass."

Skye sat dumbfounded. "Rick asked me if I wanted to go and I said no."

"And why's that?"

"Because I chose to stay and take care of you!" she fired back.

"I don't need anyone's help."

Standing up, she shook her head at him in disappointment before walking out.

Daryl didn't know why he was being so hard on her. Every time he pushes her out he instantly regrets it. Maybe he felt like he didn't deserve her help. He wasn't sure. But something deep inside him was scared…

* * *

Skye sat throwing twigs into the fire out of pure frustration. _Why was he treating her so badly all of a sudden?_ She was so confused by all of it. Occasionally she caught herself stealing glances over at his tent window hoping to see some sort of sign that he felt sorry, but there was nothing. All that could be seen was the tip of his arrow poking holes in the screen. Shaking her head, she let out a heavy sigh. Glenn and Maggie had gone to town and Dale stood messing with some equipment over by the RV. Suddenly, Skye could hear the crunching of gravel as the Hyundai sped up the driveway, parking right next to Dale. Andrea and Shane climbed out, but they did so alone. Skye's spirits dropped. Sophia was still out there. She watched as Andrea disappeared into the RV with Carol and Dale began following Shane with a suspicious look on his face. The fire cracked and Skye turned back to it, stoking it with a stick. When she looked back to Dale and Shane, she noticed their conversation had taken a turn and Shane was up in Dale's face. Fear and amazement were written all over Dale's face as he stood listening to whatever Shane was saying. Getting up, she made her way over to attempt to calm the situation before it got out of hand.

"Shane?" she called. "Can I talk to you a minute?"

Nodding his head at Dale, he turned and walked towards Skye. Looking past him to Dale, she noticed the old man's hands were trembling as he walked off.

"What can I do for you, Skye?"

"I was just wondering if you found anything."

"Nah. Place was overrun with walkers," he walked around her.

"At least you guys are okay."

He grabbed a bottle from the table and took a drink, not taking his eyes from her.

"So, um- is there another area that we should check tomorrow? I'm going to try to go out and if you have anywhere you think is worth lookin' then-"

"Listen," he cut her off. "I don't think there is anywhere worth lookin'. You'd be better off stickin' around here and helpin' out on the farm."

"I'm not going to stop looking until she's found, Shane."

"You want to get yourself killed, go right ahead. But my advice would be to stay here where you can be protected by me, Rick, T-Dog… Just stay here." He pointed to the ground.

All the while that they were talking, Daryl watched gritting his teeth from his tent window.

* * *

Eggs filled Skye's nostrils as Carol knelt by the fire with frying pan in hand. The sizzling of them cooking was accompanied by the scraping of Andrea's knife on a stick as she sat off to Skye's left sharpening it. Across from her, Daryl raised his plate to accept some of the eggs that Carol was handing out. His eyes moved to find hers but she looked away as soon as she caught him looking at her. She was still upset about the way he treated her yesterday. Shaking her head out of aggravation, she caught sight of Glenn looking to Maggie, who stood on the porch moving her head from left to right. But he then looked to Dale, who nodded in approval of whatever Glenn had going through his mind and it had her curious. With his hands in his pockets, he rose to his feet and moved behind her.

"Um, guys," he rubbed his chin. All eyes were now on him. "So…" Nervous, he wrung his hands together. "The barn is full of walkers."

Everyone's face was overcome with terror and they stopped what they were doing. Skye's heart sped up with the realization that they had been sleeping with who knew how many walkers right next to them.

"How do you know?" Rick asked.

"Accidentally came across them."

"You've got to be kiddin' me." Shane threw his plate down to the ground and stomped off towards the barn. The rest of the group got to their feet and ran behind him. Stopping in front of the barn, Shane went up and peeked through the crack of the doors. Arms crossed, Skye waited.

Lumbering back to stand with the group, Shane spoke to Rick, "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."

"No, I am not. But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

"Rick, I don't feel comfortable with this. What if they had gotten out in the night while we were sleeping?" Skye looked to him concerned.

"God, this is our lives, man," Shane growled.

"Lower your voice," Glenn warned.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea took Shane's side.

"It ain't right. Not anymore. T-Dog stood looking to Rick for answers.

Shane walked around to stand next to Rick. "We either gotta go in there and make things right or we just gotta go. We have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

Rick held a hand up. "We can't go!"

"Why, Rick? Why?"

"Her little girl is still out there, Shane," Skye pointed to the woods.

Shane put his hands to his face and let out a small laugh. "Ca- I think it's time we consider the other possibility."

"Shane!"

"Don't even think that way. You can't," Skye fought.

"I'm close to findin' this little girl. I just found her doll two days ago." Daryl paced around.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll," he spat.

Daryl stepped forward. "Man, you don't know what the hell you're talkin' about."

"Hey, man, I'm just sayin' what needs to be said here. You get a good lead in the first forty-eight hours-"

"Shane, stop!" Rick stood between the two men. Daryl continued to pace with his eyes glued to Shane, his blood beginning to boil.

"Let me tell you somethin' else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you comin' all methed out, buck knife, and geek ears around your neck she would run in the other direction." That was the last straw.

Daryl flung at Shane. The two men struggled against Rick, yelling at each other, pushed to their limits.

"Daryl!" Skye yelled, trying to get him to back down, but he had tuned everyone out.

"You don't come at me, man! You don't come at me!" Shane yelled at Daryl as the others grabbed hold of him, yanking him back. Skye stood by Daryl's side, glaring daggers at Shane. Rick shoved Shane back.

Pointing a finger in Lori's face, he said, "Keep your hands off me."

Rick kept his hand held out towards Shane. "Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out."

Shane spun on him, booming. "And what you gonna figure out!?"

Lori stepped between them. "Enough!"

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land!"

Dale stepped in. "Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people," he nodded. "His wife, his stepson."

"You knew!?"

"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel."

Skye couldn't believe Dale would keep something like this hidden.

"And you waited the night?" Shane glared.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did," he stated. Back to Rick, he said, "I was going to say something this morning but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"Man, this is crazy!" Shane began to yell at Rick once again.

As the two went at it the barn doors began to shake. The walkers had been stirred up by the shouting and now fought to get to their food. Daryl stepped in front of Skye and held a hand out in front of her, shielding her. They all just stared at the barn in disbelief and sheer terror. Carol and Lori took Carl back to the camp, Glenn went to find Maggie and Dale headed to keep watch from the RV.

"I'm to go find Hershel. Try to talk some reason into him."

"Yeah, you go do that." Shane didn't take his eyes from the barn doors.

Before leaving, Rick signaled to Skye behind Shane's back asking her to keep watch on him. She nodded in agreement. Daryl went to follow Rick, but stopped when he realized Skye didn't follow him.

She knew he wasn't going to like it, but still she said, "I'm stayin' here with Shane. Make sure it's secure."

Muttering under his breath as he turned and left, he grumbled, "You've got to be kiddin' me."

"What are you going to do?" Skye followed Shane as he made rounds around the barn, inspecting it.

"Nothin' for right now. Rick wants to play his little games with Hershel and so be it. But there is no chance in hell I will let this place go unguarded."

"I'll help."

He stopped and spun around, facing her. "You serious?"

"Yeah. I don't like the idea of these things being near our camp. It's not safe at all, and it sure as hell isn't smart."

Shane was happy they were on the same page. He can't be the only one 'crazy' around here. "Well, then. Let's get started."

* * *

Daryl watched from across the field as Shane led Skye around to the back of the barn. Angry, he threw his rag down onto the table, making Carol jump. Without saying a word, he left and headed for the stables. Grabbing a saddle from the storage half of the stalls, he struggled to carry it to where the horse stood, waiting. Breathing deep, he tossed it onto the stand and a shooting pain ran up his left side. He bent over holding on to where it hurt.

"You can't."

Looking up he saw Carol running into the stable. "I'm fine," he breathed.

"Hershel said you need to heal."

Some reins hung on the post next to him and he reached up and removed them from their hook. "Yeah, I don't care."

"Well I do."

He opened the door to Nellie's stall with a creak. All he could think about was how he wanted to be left alone and that he didn't want to be around here.

"Rick's going out later to follow the trail."

"Yeah. Well I ain't gonna sit around and do nothin'."

"No, you're going to go out there and get yourself hurt even worse."

Ignoring her, he put the strap around Nellie's head, stopping only when he heard what she said next.

"We don't even know if we're going to find her, Daryl."

Not believing what he was hearing, he looked over his shoulder at her.

"We don't." They stared at each other and she whispered, "I don't."

Stepping in closer, he said, "What?"

"Can't lose you, too." Tears filled her eyes.

Squinting his eyes and scrunching up his nose, he sat the reins back down. Not wanting to have to deal with her crying over him, he decided not to go out. But that just meant he had to sit here and watch as Skye ran around with Shane all day. Anger overcame him and he thrust the saddle from the stand to the hay covered ground. He doubled over from the pain, holding at his side.

"You okay?"

Swatting at her, he shouted, "Just leave me be!" As he walked from the stables he mumbled, "Stupid bitch."

Once back to camp, he smacked the door to his tent away and threw himself down onto his bed.

* * *

Skye and Shane had inspected every inch of that barn to make sure the walkers wouldn't be able to get out. Hershel and his family had secured it pretty tight. However, some of the locks seemed a little too rusty for her liking, including the one on the front door. Rounding the corner to the front of the barn, she found Shane resting on a nearby tractor.

"We should be good. At least until Rick and Hershel decide what they're going to do. I really don't want to stay here if these things aren't taken care of."

Shane sat staring off into space.

"Shane?"

"What if Hershel says not to touch 'em? You say you don't want to stay here and the others made it very clear they don't want to leave. Would you want to leave with me?" He looked up at her, standing there speechless.

"We could watch each other's backs. We could make it together."

"Shane, I-"

"Look, you don't have to make up your mind now."

She heard someone approaching and turned to see Rick was heading their way.

"I'll leave you guys alone," she stated. As she walked past Rick she gave him a half-smile half-frown. On her walk back to the camp she saw Glenn was now on the top of the RV and Lori sat with Carl at the picnic table. Swinging herself into the RV she went to grab her guns, but noticed that the bag was gone. After searching the RV, she still couldn't find them. She thought maybe Daryl would know where they were. Stepping back outside she looked around for Daryl but didn't see him. Carol came walking up looking upset.

"Hey, Carol. Have you seen Daryl around? I need to ask him something."

"I think he went to his tent. Think I pissed him off."

"Is that why you were crying?" Skye asked, concerned.

The woman nodded and entered the RV. Despite what Carol said, Skye knew it was her fault he was all pissed off. She had pushed his buttons when she stayed behind with Shane. Without announcing herself, she walked right on into his tent.

"Hey, it's called privacy," he fired at her.

"Why did you have to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Make Carol upset. As if she isn't upset enough over her daughter you have to add to it?"

"Get off my case, Skye. You ain't my mother."

"No I'm not, but still it stands that you need to apologize to her. You're pissed at me, not her."

"This ain't about you," he lied.

"Then what is it? Why'd you take it out on her? What'd she do to deserve it?"

He sat up and narrowed his eyes at her.

She shook her head. Softening her voice, she said, "Daryl. Please. The woman has been through enough. I know we all have, but-" she paused. "She lost her daughter. I can't imagine what's she's going through." Her hand went to her chest as she tried to keep herself from getting too upset. Last thing she needed was to start crying in front of him again.

Sighing in defeat, he said, "Fine." Standing, he pushed past her through the doorway. "Come on." She stayed in close behind him as they approached Carol, who was sitting staring into the flames of the fire.

"Hey, uh- Carol." His voice was quiet, gentle. "I wanna show you somethin'."

Skye gave them some space as she followed behind them. They found themselves at the lake. A boat bobbed in the water nearby and they could hear the sounds of the tall grass swaying in the wind, water rippling up onto the shore, frogs and other wildlife.

"You see it?" Daryl looked over his shoulder at Carol.

"See what?"

Daryl pointed out and Skye smiled, seeing what he was gesturing toward. There before them was four Cherokee roses.

"I'll find her." Confidence was evident on his face as he truly believed that he would. But Skye could see that Carol was fighting to share that belief.

"Hey, um- I'm sorry about what happened this morning."

Looking back and forth between the flower and Daryl, Carol replied, "You wanted to look for her." Thinking, she added, "Why? This whole time I wanted to ask you."

"Cause I think she's still out there." His eyes were narrowed as he nodded at her, trying to get her to have a little faith. He shifted in place, feeling an akwardness between them. "Truth is, what else I got to do."

Skye frowned, knowing he didn't really feel that way and she could tell by the look on her face that Carol didn't believe it either. If he would just express how he really felt about finding the girl. Carol reached forward and rubbed a finger on the petal of the flower.

Without looking back, she said, "We'll find her. We will. I see it." She glanced at him for a mere second before returning her gaze to the petals.

Daryl looked past her to Skye. Drawing her lips into a thin line, she gave him a forced smile. Turning away, she walked over to the dock. Taking her boots off she dipped her feet into the cool water before sitting down. She kicked absent-mindedly as the two continued to look to the flower for hope. The lake reminded her of one of their family's trips. Their father had wanted to go on a family fishing trip. Despite both of the girl's pleas to find another way to spend time together, their father insisted and with the help of their brother convinced them to go. While her father and brother were off in the boat, she would sit on the deck with Riley. They would just sit and talk for hours. Most of the time it was Skye listening to her little sister go on about the boys at school and how her teachers were sticklers. Skye smiled remembering how Riley had talked about her history teacher, Mr. Kessler, like he was some sort of dictator. If she closed her eyes, she could almost picture her sister sitting next to her, feet in the water and smiling bright up to the sky. Her sister was so full of life and now it was gone. Opening her eyes, she looked down into the water and saw only her reflection stared up at her. Her reflection frowned back looking worn down, rough. Boots sounded on the dock behind her and Daryl's reflection appeared next to hers.

"Hey, we should head back. See what's goin' on. Rick should've been back by now."

Skye wiped a single tear from her cheek before rising. She took a breath before turning and looking at Daryl. His eyes looked back at her, concerned.

Before he could say anything, she walked past him off the dock.

The three walked in silence until they reached the farmhouse. Maggie and Glenn were sitting on the stairs, Beth and Patricia behind them, talking to Andrea and T-Dog about how they were supposed to go off with Rick hours ago.

"Yeah you were. What the hell?" Daryl stated.

"Rick told us he was going out," Carol spoke from behind him.

"Dammit, isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail." He spun pointing at the woods, but spotted Shane walking up with the bag of guns. "Aw, he we go." When Shane reached him with a gun in his hand, he asked, "What's all this?"

"You with me, man?"

Daryl looked to Skye, and then accepted the gun Shane held out to him. Skye didn't like the look on Shane's face. It was animalistic and just asking for trouble. Daryl cocked the rifle.

"Time to grow up." Shane looked around at everyone. His gaze stopped on T-Dog and Andrea. "You already got yours?"

"Yeah. Where's Dale?" Andrea questioned.

"He's on his way."

Taking a gun from Shane, T-Dog looked conflicted. "Thought we couldn't carry."

"Yeah, well we can and we have, too."

Skye saw him pull her guns from the bag and hold them out to her. Giving him a stern look, she took them not knowing what to expect next.

"Look it was one thing to sit around here pickin' daisies when we thought this place was safe, but now we know it ain't." Shane walked up to Glenn. "How 'bout you, man? You going to protect yours?"

Glenn looked uneasy as he looked to Maggie before taking the shotgun.

"That's it." Shane's eyes went to Maggie. "Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop? If you do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl started down the stairs towards the crazed man.

"What is this?" Lori came around the corner, giving Skye a demanding glance.

Shane ignored her. "We ain't goin' anywhere, okay. Now, look, Hershel he's just gonna understand. He, well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia, am I right?" Skye watched in horror as he took a handgun from his belt and knelt in front of Carl. She couldn't believe he was using Sophia to win the boy over. "Now, I want you to take this. I want you to take it and keep your mom safe. You do whatever it takes. Now take it. Take the gun, you know how."

Lori pulled her son behind her. "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

"Oh, shit." Everyone followed to where T-Dog was looking and saw Rick approaching with Jimmy and Hershel, but they weren't alone. Hershel and Rick each had a walker restrained and were leading them towards the barn. Shane started sprinting after them.

"What is that?"

"Shane!" Skye ran after him, the rest of the group not far behind.

"What the hell you doin'!?"

"Shane, just back off," Rick cautioned, struggling with his walker.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel looked directly to Skye.

Shane circled the men as if he was a predator circling his prey. "Are you kidding me!? You see!? You see what they're holding on to!?"

"I see who I'm holding on to," Hershel defended.

"Aw, man. You're a joke!"

Rick looked to Shane. "Calm down, Shane. We can talk."

Shane marched to the front of the group. "What you wanna talk about, Rick? These things aren't people. They're dead!"

"Enough!" Skye yelled.

"These are the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! They're going to kill all of us if we do nothing!" Shane screamed out as if he was rallying the troops, getting everyone riled up. Daryl walked alongside Rick keeping his gun aimed at the walker, ready to fire at any given second.

"Shane, stop!" Rick sounded desperate.

"Hey, Hershel, man. Let me ask you somethin'. Could a livin', breathin' person…" He pulled his pistol from the back of his pants. "Could they walk away from this?" He fired three times into the walker Hershel restrained. The girls behind Skye let out a scream.

"Stop it!" Rick looked furious.

"Three rounds in the chest! Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?"

"Shane!" Skye screamed at him, shaking from both fear and anger.

Shane pointed at the walker. "Why is he still comin'?" Firing twice more, he added, "That's it heart, it's lungs. Why is it still comin'?" He fired three more times.

"Shane, enough!"

"Yeah, you're right. That is enough," he stated before walking up and shooting the walker right in the head. Hershel still held onto the pole even as it fell to the ground. Everyone stared in shock and Hershel fell to his knees. Shane was in a frenzy. Skye stared at him disgusted as he walked back in forth in front of the barn.

"Enough riskin' our lives for a little girl who's GONE!" He stopped moving, but went on screaming at all of them, sending chills up their spines. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before." The veins popped from his neck. "Now if you want to live, if you want to survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talking about fightin'. Right here, right now!"

Terror filled the group as Shane ran up to the barn grabbing a pickaxe. Rick pleaded with Hershel to take the walker he held on to. "Hershel!"

Shane pounded on the door and when that wasn't working he pried the lock right off the wood. While some people yelled to Rick, who was yelling at Shane, Skye ran back to Lori. She pulled one of her guns from her holster and held it out to her.

"Take it! I have another, protect Carl!" Lori nodded frantically and Skye ran up to Daryl's side, but he pushed her behind him.

Skye began to tremble as she saw a walker in overalls pushing the barns doors open. Andrea and T-Dog joined Shane at the front. Daryl stepped forward and began shooting as well.

"Stay back!" Daryl yelled back to Skye, but she wasn't going to just sit back. She began firing on walkers as they burst through the doors. Shane stopped shooting to shoot a death glare back to Rick, shooting the walker he struggled with in the head before returning to the barn. The walkers thinned out. Shane and Daryl shot the last two that emerged from the doors.

Daryl glanced over at Skye, who placed a hand on his arm, breathing hard. They all sat looking at the remains of the horror that just came to pass. A low hissing came from the barn causing them to slowly ready their weapons again.

There wasn't a single one of them who didn't stare at the walker horrified once they realized who it was. Skye's mouth dropped, her hand holding her gun dropped idly to her side, and her heart sank as she looked into the dead eyes of the girl they had been searching for this whole time. Sophia's eyes darted from one person to the next.

Carol's crying got louder as she rushed up towards her daughter. Dropping his gun to the dirt Daryl wrapped his strong arms around her waist, stopping her. She didn't try to fight him, but cried out to her late daughter. Skye could hear him softly shushing her, trying to calm her. No one, not even Shane, could get their self to take out the child walker that stalked towards them, snarling with every step. Daryl wrapped an arm around Carol's chest to keep her from breaking free and he held her to him. Their leader was the one who took the situation into his hands. Stopping just feet away from Sophia, he pointed his forty-four at her head. Over Carol's sobs, Skye could hear Daryl telling her not to look, but she didn't listen. The gunshot rang in everyone's ears and Sophia fell to the ground. Their search was over.

**I should be able to get one more posted tonight. If not tonight then definitely tomorrow. Trying to get as many posted before my husband and I leave for the beach. **


	13. Nebraska

The bodies of the dead were scattered across the dirt floor around the front of the barn, a result of the massacre that had just taken place. Still in shock, everyone remained in the same place they had been. No one made a sound, no one but Carol, who continued to sob uncontrollably. No one blamed her. How could they? She had just witnessed the decayed corpse of her only child get shot down. Pushing from his grip, Carol shoved Daryl away from her and ran off to the RV. An inconsolable Beth ran forward and despite Rick's warning knelt down beside the corpse of her mother. Crying, she turned her over and the walker sprang to life, grasping and biting. Everyone ran to her in a panic. They tried their best to pry her from the cold dead hands of Annette. Glenn grabbed onto the walker's arms. T-Dog kicked at the walkers head but it kept on fighting. It wasn't until Andrea swung a scythe into its head that it ceased.

Hershel and his family headed back to their home, to mourn their dead. It was something that was long overdue, but Shane just couldn't let them go in peace. He, as well as Rick and Glenn, was on their heels all the way up to the house. Skye, however, stayed behind with the others. Finding a blanket, Andrea covered Sophia's body. Skye looked up to watch as Daryl headed off towards the RV. She kicked at the ground, while the others waited around for Rick to come back. Skye decided to take it upon herself to search the barn for lingering walkers, just in case. Holding her gun up at the ready, she inched in. She was sure to check every stall. There was nothing. Stepping from the barn, she saw the group getting ready to dig some graves for the bodies and Rick having a conversation with Lori. He looked distraught. Once he walked off, Skye took off after him.

Catching up to him just outside the house, she called, "Rick! Wait, please."

His walking slowed to a stop.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything's fine, Skye."

"Don't lie to me, Rick. I can tell something is up."

He saw how serious her eyes were and knew he couldn't hide. "Just thinkin' maybe Shane was right."

"What?" she breathed, chest heaving. "How could you say-"

"I could've gotten everyone killed. Every last one of you. If it weren't for Shane, there would probably still be walkers in that barn."

"You were trying to be respectful."

"There's no more room for being respectful nowadays. Shane has shown me that."

"You know that's not true."

"Ain't it?"

"Rick, you would've gotten it taken care of in your own way. Shane handled that horribly. That was insane."

"It got the job done."

"Yeah, but at what cost? What if there had been more in there than we could handle? We could've been overrun. He didn't think it through. His anger got the best of him."

"You don't get it. It's not just about this. I got Carl shot. My son. I wasn't there when the camp got ambushed by Atlanta. Shane was there both times and ended up protecting the group."

"You got Carl here. To Hershel."

He didn't look convinced.

"Rick… I don't know what else to say other than no matter what you think your faults are, I would follow you into any situation. You're a great leader. You fight for all of us. Nobody's perfect. So don't be so hard on yourself." With a hint of a smile, she turned and left him standing there.

After checking on the others she headed towards the RV to get Carol for the funeral of her daughter. Nervous as hell, she stepped into the RV. Daryl sat on the counter to the left, shotgun in his lap, while Carol sat at the table looking out the window.

"Everything's set. You ready?" Skye tried to sound as sensitive as possible.

Carol just shook her head lightly.

"Come on."

"Why?" Carol asked, catching Skye off guard.

Skye looked to Daryl for help.

"Cause that's your little girl."

Carol met his gaze. "That's not my little girl. It's some other…thing." She sniffled. "My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought she didn't cry herself to sleep, she didn't go hungry, she didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

Not saying a word, Skye left the RV and closed her eyes. She heard Daryl step out beside her. "You alright?"

"Just sad for Carol. Didn't expect any of that to happen so I'm just a little shaken."

His face was full of worry.

"I'm going to, um- I'm going to go find Hershel. Tell him we're ready."

"Want me to come with you?"

"No, it's okay. Best if we don't crowd him."

She found Hershel in his room. Her fingers rapped gently on the doorframe. He saw her standing there and waved her in.

Two large boxes sat on the bed and pieces of women's clothing could be seen sticking up from the top.

She assumed they belonged to his wife.

"They're ready to start."

"I'll be finished in a minute."

Walking around the bed, she stood next to him. "Would you like some help?"

He nodded.

She helped him take all her clothes from the closet and placed them into the boxes neatly. He treated each item with such care, mourning over each one as if he was packing memories away. When they had finished she saw him go to the dresser and pull out a small flask. Setting it gently onto the dresser he pulled out a tie. Lastly, he threw a jacket on.

"You look nice." She held her hand out to him and he took it, letting her guide him to where the others waited. It was a quick service and all were present minus Carol.

Skye was walking back up to the farmhouse when she saw Rick burst through the door. He didn't stop till he was at the truck.

"Rick? What's wrong?"

"Beth passed out. Think she's in shock. Glenn and I are going to find Hershel."

"Where is he?"

"Maggie said he used to go to this bar in town. Thinkin' I'll find him there."

Skye thought for a second. "I want to go to. I can help."

"Alright. Hop in. Just waiting on Glenn."

She didn't hesitate. Jerking the side door open, she jumped in. As soon as Glenn was in, they were on their way.

* * *

The wind rushed to where she sat in the back seat. She enjoyed the feeling of it blowing her hair around her face. Closing her eyes, she relaxed. They had been riding in silence until Glenn spoke up out of nowhere.

"Maggie said she loves me."

Skye's eyes popped open and she looked to Rick, smiling brightly.

"Way to go, tiger," she hit his arm playfully.

He laughed, "She doesn't mean it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she can't. She's upset, confused. She probably feels like-"

"I think she's smart enough to know what she's feelin'." Rick tried to stop Glenn from thinking so pessimistically.

"No, no, no way," Glenn denied.

Rick and Skye laughed.

"She wants to be in love so she needs something to, to, to hold onto."

"Glenn, it's pretty obvious to everyone that Maggie loves you and not because you're one of the last men standing. So what's the problem?"

"I didn't say it back."

"I'm sure she understands," Skye comforted him.

But Rick just said, "Huh…"

"I've never had a woman say that to me before. Except my mom, of course, and my sisters. But with Maggie it's different. We barely know each other. What does she really know about me. Nothing."

"She knows your brave, smart, kind,caring… need I go on?"

He looked back at Skye. "I stood there like a jerk."

"Hey, this is a good thing. Something we don't get enough of these days. Enjoy it. And when you get back, return the favor. It's not like she's goin' anywhere."

They parked in the town, right outside the bar Maggie had mentioned to them.

Daryl sat whittling some more arrows when Lori approached him.

"Listen, Beth is in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel."

"So, what?"

"So, I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back."

Daryl was instantly annoyed. What was he? Everyone's Mr. Fix It? He just kept focusing on his arrow.

"Daryl!"

He shot her a look. "Your bitch went window shoppin'. You want him, fetch him yourself. I got better things to do."

"What's the matter with you? Why would you be so selfish?"

Now Daryl was pissed. "Selfish!? Listen to me, Olive Oyl, I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you be tellin' me about getting' my hands dirty. You want those two idiots, have a nice ride. I'm done lookin' for people"

She stared at him. "It's not just Rick and Hershel. Glenn and Skye are with them, too."

He froze.

Lori walked off back to the house.

Daryl bit at his lip, scrunching up his nose, thinking about whether he should go or not. Conflicted, he threw his arrow down to the ground.

"Hershel?"

Hershel sat at the bar with his back to them.

"Who's with you?"

"Glenn and Skye."

"Maggie send them?"

"They offered. They're good like that."

While Rick fought back and forth with Hershel Glenn and Skye sat back waiting it out. But when Hershel was finally coming around they heard footsteps enter and they turned to see two men standing in the doorway of the bar.

"Son of a bitch. They're alive." The skinnier of the two men said.

Slowly and cautiously, the two men had made themselves at home in the bar. The one who had spoken sat at a nearby table while the other eyed Skye from a seat at the bar. She glared back at him, but returned attention to the other.

"I'm Dave. That scrawny looking douche back there is Tony."

"Eat me, Dave."

"Hey, maybe someday I will," he looked around.

"We met on I-95 coming out of Philly. Damn shit joint that was."

Glenn raised a hand. "I'm Glenn. It's nice to meet some new people."

Rick and Skye shared a cautious glance before he said, "Rick Grimes." He handed the man a drink.

Dave pointed to Hershel. "How bout you man? Have one?"

"I just quit."

"You have a unique sense of timing, my friend."

"His name's Hershel. He lost people today. A lot of them."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that. How 'bout you, sweetheart? What's your name?"

"Skye."

Raising his shot glass, he said, "To better days and new friends. And to our dead. May they be in a better place." Tapping it on the table, he threw it back. He leaned over the table, setting his glass down. He noticed Rick was eyeballing his gun that was tucked in the back of his jeans.

"Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop."

"I'm a cop."

"This one was already dead." He smiled.

"You fellas are a long way from Philadelphia."

Tony said, "Feels like we're a long way from anywhere."

"Well, what drove you south?"

"I can tell you it wasn't the weather. Must've dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here. Nah, first it was D.C. heard there was some kind of refugee camp but the roads were so jammed we never even got close. Decided to get off the highways, keep to the styx, and keep haulin' ass. Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing."

Skye noticed the men sharing unsettling looks.

"How 'bout you guys?"

"Fort Benning, eventually."

"Hate to piss in your corn flakes officer, but, um- we ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning, said it was overrun with lamebrains."

"Wait, Fort Benning is gone? For real?" Glenn asked, and Rick just hung his head.

"Sadly, I am. Ugly truth is, there is no way outta this mess. Just goin' from one pipe dream to the next. Prayin' one of this things don't grab a hold of you while you sleep."

"If you sleep," Tony inserted.

"Don't look like you guys are hangin' your hats here. You, You holed up somewhere else?"

And there it was. Skye knew it would come up eventually. She shot Rick a warning look. He rocked back on the chair. "Not really."

Dave raised his eyebrows. "Those your cars out front?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" Glenn asked.

"We're livin' outta ours. Those look pretty empty. Clean. Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group. Out scouting. Thought we could use a drink."

"A drink? Hershel I thought you quit.," Dave laughed, pausing. "Well, we're thinkin' of settin' up around here. Is it safe?"

"It can be," Glenn replied. "Though I have killed a couple walkers around here."

"Walkers? That what you call them?"

"Yeah."

"That's good. I like that better than lamebrains." He scratched his neck. There was an awkward silence.

"So what, you guys set-up on the outskirts or somethin'? That new development?"

Getting up from his seat, Tony added, "Trailer park or somethin'? Farm?"

Disgusted, Skye watched as the man began pissing in the corner.

"You on a farm?" Dave asked. "Is it safe? It's gotta be. You got food, water?"

"You got girls." Tony looked back over his shoulder at Skye. "I haven't had a piece of ass in weeks. How 'bout you sweetheart?" Tony blew a kiss to Skye, who wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Dave rubbed his face. "Ah, look. Pardon my friend. City kids, they got no tact."

"I'm from the city," Skye fired, shooting him a glare.

"No disrespect. So listen, Glenn-"

"We've said enough," Rick interrupted.

"Now, wait a second. This farm sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet, Tony?"

"Yeah, real sweet." Tony tugged on Skye's arm.

She jerked away.

"How 'bout a little southern hospitality. We got somebody's back at camp. They're havin' a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more. We can pool our resources, our manpower."

"Look, I'm sorry, But that's not an option," Rick shook his head.

"Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem."

"I'm sorry, we can't," Hershel backed him up.

"We can't take in anymore."

"This is bullshit," Tony spat.

"Calm down," Rick said.

"Don't tell me to calm down. Don't ever tell me to calm down. I'll shoot you three assholes, take your farm and your girl." Tony reached for Skye but she pulled her guns on him, pointing them in his face.

"You won't touch me," she snarled.

Dave jumped up with his hands in the air. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax. Take it easy. Nobody's killin' anybody." Dave walked over to the bar and hopped over. "Nobody's shootin' anybody. Right, Rick?" Dave sat his gun on the bar. "Just friends havin' a drink, that's all. Now where's the good stuff." He clapped his hands together. "Good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. Let's see." As he leaned under the bar, Rick's hand flew to his weapon. Leaning back up, Dave revealed a bottle. "Hey, look at that. That'll work." He unscrewed the cap and proceeded to pour drinks. "You gotta understand, we can't stay out there. You know what it's like."

Rick nodded, "Yeah, I do. But the farm is too crowded as is. I'm sorry. You'll have to keep lookin'."

"Keep lookin'. Where do you suggest we do that?"

Skye saw Tony glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"I don't know. I hear Nebraska's nice."

Dave laughed. "Nebraska…this guy."

Tony grabbed onto Skye, making her scream out. Dave flew for his gun, but Rick was quicker, shooting him in the head. Skye pointed her gun at Tony and pulled the trigger, but he still had hold of her. He pulled her down with him.

"Skye!"

The three members of her group were right next to her in an instant. "You okay?"

She rolled over. Lifting her hand, they all saw it was covered in blood. "I don't think so." They saw a pool of blood forming on her shirt, and broken shards of Dave's glass lying next to her on the floor.


	14. Broken

"Stay with us, Skye!"

Rick loomed over her while Hershel held his hand on her wound. A flash of lights filled the room as tires approached, crunching gravel as they came to a halt in front of the building.

"Car! Car!" Rick whispered crossing the room to the window. He leaned his back up against the wall and looked over to Glenn, who did the same a few feet to his left. Men's voices could be heard from outside.

A man called out, "Dave? Tony?"

"I'm tellin' ya I heard shots," another stated.

"Dave? Tony?"

"Stop! You wanna attract 'em? Stay close to me."

From where she laid across the bar, Skye could see a silhouette appear on the glass of the door. She could see the person creating the shadow look down to the door handle.

"Dude, he said to stay close," another man said, stealing the silhouette's gaze away from the door. "Tony?" The footsteps faded away as the men walked around the street outside, but their voices could still be heard.

"Why won't they leave?" Glenn breathed.

"Would you?" Hershel looked at him pointedly.

"Listen," Rick spoke up. "We need t get her back to the farm fast. We can go around back to get her to the car-"

"Rick," she coughed. "Just go. You guys can't be riskin' your lives to save me. Just leave me here. I'll be alright."

"Ain't an option, Skye." Rick's eyes flew to look back at the window as shots rang through the air.

"What happened?" The men had came back around to the front of the bar.

"Roamers. I got 'em. Dave and Tony's vehicle is still here."

"You guys check this building?"

Knowing the man was referring to the bar, Rick sat on alert with his gun drawn.

"No."

"Me either."

"We're lookin' for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar!?"

Rick slid down the wall to a crouching position. The door handle turned and as it began to creep open Glenn bolted in front of it, pushing it closed.

"What the-?"

"What?"

"Someone pushed that shut. Someone's in there."

"Yo, is someone in there?" A man hollered at them. "Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want trouble. We're just lookin' for our friends."

"What do we do, Tom? Bum rush the door?"

"No! We don't know how many of them are in there. Just relax, okay?"

Skye's breathing was labored as she watched, worried they would force their way in, see there was only four of them in there and take them all out.

"We don't want any trouble. We're just lookin' for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you could help us not get killed, it would be much appreciated."

Skye watched as Rick sat struggling with himself trying to decide whether or not he should speak up.

"Dude, you're buggin'. There's no one in there," one of the other men attempted to get him to forget about it.

"They drew on us!" Rick yelled to the men receiving a look of disbelief from Hershel. Skye could hear the footsteps return and stop right in front of the door.

"Dave and Tony in there? Are they alive?"

Skye looked to where Tony's body lied next to her, completely lifeless.

Taking a deep breath, Rick replied, "No."

The men could be heard whispering, "They killed Dave and Tony. Come on, man. Let's go."

"No, I'm not goin'. I'm goin' back and tellin' them Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar."

"Your friends drew on us," Rick repeated. "They gave us no choice. I'm sure we've all lost enough people. Done things we wish we didn't have to. But that's what it's like now. You know that. So let's chalk this up to what it was. Wrong place, wrong-"

Glass shattered to the floor as bullets were fired into the window of the bar door. Rick jumped to his feet and fired out through the hole in the door. "Get back, get back!"

Glenn dove behind the wall next to Skye as Hershel slid Tony's shotgun over to him. Looking down to Skye, Hershel said, "Let's get you out of here."

"No! Just leave me! Go!"

* * *

Daryl sat poking at the fire in front of him with a tree branch, trying to sort through all the thoughts in his head. Leaves crunched behind him as someone approached his new campsite. He had moved out away from the rest of the group, not just to get some peace and quiet, but to distance himself.

"We can't find Lori," Carol announced. "And the other's aren't back yet."

"Dumb bitch must've gone off lookin' for 'em."

"What?"

"Yeah, She asked me to go. Told her I was done bein' an errand boy." His eyes never left the fire.

"And you didn't say anything? Do you even care that Skye was still out there?"

Daryl stared into the flames. He could hear the woman walk away from him, but her footsteps stopped. Soon they had returned and she stood in front of him.

"Don't do this. Please. I've already lost my girl."

Daryl sprang to his feet. Getting up in her face as he walked by he said, "Yeah, that wasn't my problem neither." He left her there, alone by the fire.

* * *

Rick crouched, reloading his gun. "Hey, we all know this is not gonna end well. There's nothing in it for any of us. You guys just back off and no one gets hurt." Rick nodded to Hershel for them to take their chance. Hershel and Glenn each snaked an arm under Skye, helping her to her feet. Taking her weight onto their shoulders, they helped her make her way to the back of the bar towards the back door. Hershel looked to Glenn.

"We should try for the car now…"

Nodding, Glenn pushed the door open.

Hershel helped Glenn get a better hold on Skye, who was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. "I'll cover you. Put her in the back."

Glenn and Skye hobbled toward the truck. Gunshots were fired at them causing Glenn to drop her to the ground. Lying on her side, she could feel the cool pavement on her cheek. It was becoming harder for her to keep her eyes open as she lied there, but she could hear Rick reach Hershel.

"What happened?"

"He fired."

"Did he hit them?" Rick sounded panicked.

"I don't think he got her. But Glenn is behind the dumpster, not moving."

Skye could hear a shuffle of footsteps and then Rick was at her side. "Hold on, Skye. We'll get you out of here." He crept over to Glenn. Just as they went to make their way back over to her, two more gunshots were fired, followed by the screeching of tires and men shouting to the shooter. Skye could hear the shooter jump from the roof. He didn't seem to make it because she now heard him screaming and the truck took off, leaving him behind. From the sound of his screams, the shooter sounded as if he was younger. Maybe just a few years younger than her. Before she knew it, Rick scooped her up into his arms and they were at the back of the truck. He laid her down gently, but as he went to shut the door she grabbed onto his shirt.

"Don't leave him behind. Help him," she breathed out.

Then everything went black.

* * *

Sitting in his tent alone, Daryl found himself worrying about Skye. Why hadn't they made it back yet? He felt guilty for not going out to find her himself, but then again it wasn't his job. Why should he be the one who has to go out searching for everyone? She was the reason he moved out here in the first place. Lately he had been feeling things he had never felt before and distance seemed to be the best solution. Sensing he wasn't alone, he grabbed his knife from next to his bed and exited the tent as silently as possible. Once he got his head out, he saw that it was just Carol again. He found her standing looking at his squirrels from his most recent hunt. Stopping behind her, he said, "What're you doin'?"

Startled, she answered, "Keepin' an eye on you."

He narrowed his gaze. "Ain't you a peach."

"I'm not gonna let you pull away. You've earned your place. Just because you care for someone doesn't make you weak. You don't have to play the lone wolf all the time."

"If you spent half your time mindin' your daughters business instead of putting your nose in everyone else's she'd still be alive!"

"Go ahead."

"Go ahead and what?" He stared back at her. "Man, just go! I don't want you here! Can't you people see I want to be alone!" Still, she just stood there, looking back at him. "You're a real piece of work, lady. What're you goin' to make this about my daddy or some crap like that? Pfft. Man, you don't know jack." He stepped towards her, pointing in her face. "You're afraid. You're afraid of being alone. You got no husband. No daughter. You don't know what to do with yourself."

"That makes two of us, huh? You think you're alone? The only thing is, you're not alone, and you know that."

Daryl met her gaze, knowing she was referring to Skye. "She ain't my problem."

"So you'd let her stay out there? What if something's happened? You should go for her."

Shaking his head, he walked away. "Tell Shane to go after her."

The next morning, Daryl crossed the field to where Shane stood packing up the back of the Hyundai. Throwing his bag into the truck, he adjusted his crossbow. Shane stopped what he was doing and looked over at him.

"What are you doin'?"

"Goin' with you."

"Thought this wasn't your problem."

Daryl shook his head at Carol's inability to keep what he had said to herself. "Changed my mind."

"Well, I got this. You don't need to go."

Daryl glared at Shane. "I'm goin'. That's that."

"I don't need your help, man. I'll find 'em just fine without you. Better even."

"We both know that's bullshit."

Before Shane could snap back, the two men heard a truck speeding up the driveway of the farm. It was Rick. They stood waiting as the truck jerked to a halt right in front of them. Rick and Hershel burst from the seats in the front.

Running up to her father, Maggie noticed there was some blood staining his shirt. Her features reflected her worry. "Are you hurt?" The others watched Rick as he rushed to the back of the truck.

"No, Maggie. I'm fine. Patricia, get the shed ready for surgery."

"Rick?" Shane followed behind him, stopping only when he saw who was in the back of the truck.

Noticing that Skye was the only one who had not emerged from the vehicle Daryl hurried to the back as well, just in time to see Rick pull Skye into his arms and start carrying her towards the house.

"What the hell happened!?" he asked.

"We ran into two men. One grabbed her and she shot him. I shot the other." With that last statement, his eyes found Lori's as he rushed past her. Daryl stayed close by Rick, not even stopping when they heard T-Dog ask, "Who the hell is that?"

Rick continued on, leaving Glenn to do the explaining. Daryl helped Rick get her to a bedroom, where they easily laid her down. Hershel entered the room with a bowl of warm water. Setting it down, he began rolling his sleeves up.

"Now, I'm going to have to make sure all the glass is out first. Can't be having any fragments left in her. Then I'll have to stitch her up. Luckily, between Glenn and Maggie going to town and Shane goin' with Otis, we have plenty of supplies."

Daryl stepped back to give them some room, biting on his nail. He watched as they stripped her bloody shirt from her body. Seeing as how she now laid in her bra, he felt he should look away but couldn't take his eyes from the gash in her side that had been revealed. His body began to heat up with anger. Anger from thinking about the guys who had done this and from his stubbornness preventing him from going after her himself. He began to pace back and forth as Hershel worked at pulling tiny remnants of glass out. Once he was finished he stitched her up and cleaned the area. Standing, Hershel wiped his hands on a clean towel and nodded to Rick.

"We're going to have to have a discussion with the group about this Randall fella."

Rick nodded in agreement. "Well, we should probably go ahead and do it now. I'm sure they have a lot of questions."

The two men went to leave, but Rick turned back to look at Daryl who stood unmoving. "Daryl?"

"I'm, uh- going to stay here a minute," Daryl spoke softly.

"Okay," Rick said with understanding before closing the door behind him.

Daryl looked down at her and felt a pang of sadness. Their places were now switched and he still felt like he was to blame. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he grabbed a blanket from the chair nearby. Laying it over her, he carefully covered her exposed upper body. Arms crossed over his chest, he stood watching her, waiting for a sign that she was about to wake. He wished he had been there to protect her, to make the man pay himself.

Stepping into the dining room, Daryl walked into the middle of the discussion about Randall. It seemed as if they were talking about what they should do with the boy.

"He'll have a fightin' chance," Rick stated.

"Just gonna let him go?" Shane looked amazed. "He knows where we are!"

"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat," Rick defended.

"Not a threat? You killed three of their men and took one hostage. They just gonna not come lookin'? And you said yourself that a man from his group tried to assault Skye before she killed him."

Daryl clenched his fist at his side.

"She is in there hurt. You know what, I'm going to go get him some flowers and candy." Shane headed for the door, clearly aggravated and for once Daryl sided with him.

Hershel stepped behind Shane. "You know we still haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet. Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all. This is my farm. Now, I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor and keep your mouth shut," Hershel put his foot down and Shane stomped out of the hosue.

"Look, we're not doing anything today. Let's just cool off," Rick calmed.

Daryl walked out with Carol trailing behind him.

"What're you going to do?"

Determination filled his voice, "Gonna talk to Shane." Trudging towards the camp, Daryl found Shane leaning on the picnic table.

Not even bothering to look up, Shane asked, "What do you want, Daryl?"

"Same thing you do."

Snorting, he looked up to Daryl. "And that is?"

"To get rid of the little bastard."

* * *

Skye's breathing had become steadier as she lay resting. She had yet to wake up and Daryl was determined to be there when she did. He had pulled the chair to the side of the bed where he sat with one leg propped up on the other, picking at his nails. Occasionally, he would glance up at her only to find her eyes remained closed. He had been sitting in the room with her ever since Rick and Shane had gone off with Randall to leave him to fend for himself. They were only taking him eighteen miles out, so it shouldn't be taking as long as it was. He was hoping they hadn't run into more of the boy's group and gotten ambushed. Movement caught his eye and he lunged forward as Skye's eyes fluttered open. She bolted upright, but winced from the pain reminding her of what had happened the day before.

Daryl put his hand on her back. "Easy. You'll rip your stitches out."

Her eyes met his as he helped her lie back down. "Thanks."

"Doc, had to put quite a few stitches in ya. You're gonna take a few days to heal. Take it easy."

She smiled.

"What?"

"Funny. Comin' from you. I don't remember you takin' it too easy," she teased.

"Yeah, well you're more fragile."

"Whatever, Mr. Dixon." Lying back, she stared over at him. "Have you been in here long?"

Slightly embarrassed by the truth, he said, "Someone's gotta look after ya. Make sure you don't jump outta bed and go ruinin' the doctors work he did on ya."

She rolled her eyes with a smirk. Remembering the incident at the bar, her smile soon fell.

"What is it?"

"Everything just went horrible so quickly."

"What happened back there?"

"Two men, that's it. They came into the bar we were at. Kept tryin' to find out about the farm. Had a bad feeling about them from the start."

"Rick said one assaulted you."

She nodded. "Talked about wanting a piece of ass. Kept tuggin' on my arm." Her nose wrinkled in disgust, and Daryl's blood began to boil. "Grabbed onto my arm to pull me towards him, and I shot him. Everything was a blur. I just remember him dragging me down with him and feeling a pain in my stomach. Probably shouldn't have shot him." She looked down at her hands. "Rick wouldn't have let him take me or anything. I just… reacted."

"You did what you had to. Don't let a piece of shit like him make you get yourself down. He deserved much worse than what you did to him."

Her head rose to see he sat with his fist clenched on the arm of the chair and his leg bounced uncontrollably. She reached over and placed her hand on his knee, making it stop.

Giving him a weak smile, she asked, "What about the boy? Did they bring him back?"

"Yes. But they took him out and away from the group. Should be coming back here soon."

"What? Why would they-"

"He was a threat to the group. They all wanted him gone. I wanted him gone."

"But he's just a kid."

"Pfft, hardly."

"Daryl, that's not fair. He-" The door creaked open and Rick stood with blood and dirt covering his shirt.

"Rick?"

He smiled at her. "Good to see you awake, Skye. How you feelin'?"

"Stiff."

"Well, get some rest. Shane and I need to borrow Daryl. I'll be back in to check on you in a few." Rick left the room, and Daryl stopped at the door, giving her one last glance before leaving her alone.

* * *

Steel-toed boots paced back and forth on the straw-covered wood floor, their sound echoing throughout the building. A fist full of angry came down swiftly striking Randall in the face, knocking him to the floor. Blood spurted from his mouth as he coughed and groaned. His face was met with two more blows before he let out a cry, "I told you!"

"You ain't told me shit!" Daryl grabbed two handfuls of the boys shirt, jerking him back up to a sitting position. "I barely knew the group. I met 'em on the road!"

"How many in your group?"

"Uh.."

Growing impatient, Daryl pulled his knife from his back belt loop. Seeing the metal gleam in the little sunlight the shone through the cracks of the building, the boy began to beg.

"No, no, no, no, no… Please! Come on, man!"

Daryl lunged forward, slamming the knife into the wooden floor, scaring the boy. "How many!?"

"Uh, uh- thirty! Thirty! Thirty guys!"

"Where?"

"Uh…"

Daryl ripped the duct tape from the boys cut in his leg.

Crying out from the pain, Randall replied, "I don't know! We were never anywhere more than a night."

"Scoutin'? Plannin' on stayin' local?"

"I don't know! They left me behind!"

Despite the fact the boy was answering his questions, Daryl continued to torture him, poking his knife into the boys leg gash. A part of him needed to. It was, in a way, his payback for what his group did to Skye.

"They have weapons. Heavy stuff. Automatics. But I didn't do anything!"

"Bullshit! You shot at my boys. Tried to take this farm. Tried to take her! There's an innocent girl in there lyin' all stitched up and you say you're innocent!?"

"Yes! These people took me in! Men, women, kids, too. Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, ya know?"

Daryl went back to pacing.

"But we'd go out. One night we found this little campsite. Man and his two daughters. Teenagers, ya know? Real young. Real cute."

Daryl stopped and looked over his shoulder at the boy, not liking where this was going.

Randall shook his head. "The daddy had to watch while these guys, they-" He paused. "And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just… they just made him watch his daughters. Just- Just left them there. No, but I – I didn't touch those girls. No, I swear I didn't –" Daryl's foot connected with his chest, cutting him off and knocking him to the floor once more.

"Please, please… you gotta believe me, man!" Randall cried. "I'm not like that. I ain't like that." Daryl didn't stop.

* * *

There was a quick knock at Skye's door before it opened and Rick stepped inside. She smiled up at him as he stood over her.

"Thought you would want to know what's goin' on with Randall."

"I thought you and Shane took him out already," she said, confused.

"We tried, but… we ran into walkers. Lucky we even made it out. We've been tryin' to figure out what to do with him, but in the meantime we have him chained up in the shed."

Despite the fact he was chained up in the shed, Skye felt a spark of hope for this boy. "Well, that's good news. Rick, we should give him a shot. Just like you did for me. You took a chance. Give him one. He's just a kid."

Rick hung his head. "See, that's not going to be possible."

"And why not?"

"Daryl's had been interrogatin' him and found out some information that I just can't take a risk with."

"What kind of information?"

"The kind that tells us this group isn't safe. They'll do just about anything to eliminate us if they come across this farm. Us men will be killed off and you women, well – you're going to wish you shared our fate."

Skye knew exactly what he meant and sighed. "Fine. But that just leaves the question of what to do with him now."

"I know," he shifted in place. "Any ideas?"

Thinking to herself, she looked out the window. "Nothing that will satisfy everyone in the group. No matter what you decide you're going to have someone angry with your decision."

Rick looked out to the blue sky, knowing she was exactly right.

* * *

The new campsite that Daryl had moved to was proving to be quite ineffective as he noticed Dale approaching him. Daryl reached down and grabbed a couple arrows that sat leaning against the old stone oven.

"Ugh. Whole point of me comin' out here was to get away from you people."

Dale propped his foot up on a nearby stone and watched as Daryl fiddled with an arrow.

"Whaddya want, old man?"

"Want to discuss this Randall situation."

"Nothin' to discuss. Go talk to Rick 'bout it."

"We can't just kill a human being," Dale shook his head.

"He's dangerous."

"You can't honestly believe that."

Daryl stopped and looked at Dale.

Reading his expression, Dale said, "You act like you don't care."

"Cause I don't."

"You don't care whether he lives or dies?"

"I prefer the second option."

"That hardly seems fair."

"Look, way I see it is Rick and Shane make the calls. Not me. But I just s happen to agree with 'em this time 'round."

"This is because of Skye, isn't it?"

Daryl shot him a look. "Why you say that?"

"You care about her. Everyone sees it."

"Everyone needs to mind their own damn business. I think we should kill him because he's a threat. Nothin' to do with Skye," Daryl lied.

"Please rethink you're decision. If we had you to back us up then maybe."

"What difference would that make?"

"You're opinion means something. They look to you."

"Ain't nobody looking to me for nothin'."

"I am. Right now. And you obviously have Rick's ear."

"Rick looks to Shane. And let him," Daryl spat before walking towards the woods.

"And Skye?"

Daryl stopped in his tracks.

"What do you think she'd say if she knew of your new role in the group?"

Daryl walked back up to Dale. "What makes you think I care?"

"You're a decent man, Daryl. So is Rick. Shane is different."

"Why? Because he's planning on leaving the group?"

"What? Did he say something?"

Daryl shook his head. "No. But goin' round here trying to call the shots. Failin'. He's bound to try to create his own group."

"You think he's taking some people with him?" Dale's eyes were wide with worry.

"I have my suspicions." Daryl lowered his gaze and continued towards the woods. "This group's broken. He's bound to have some luck convincin' some of them."

"So there's no convincing you, then?"

Not receiving an answer, Dale decided to try to go about it at a different angle.

* * *

"Skye?"

"Oh hey, Dale," Skye sat up in her bed.

"I assume you've heard about the boy."

"Yes." She watched him, fully aware that he would be trying to persuade her to join his fight against executing the boy.

"And you know that they plan to kill him?"

She nodded.

"And you're okay with it?"

"Of course not. I would never be okay with something like that," she spoke as if she was upset he would even suggest that.

"Seems there are few of us who think this way."

"I think you'll be surprised. Some probably just want it to go away. No matter the method. Fear makes people do things they normally wouldn't." Her eyes fell as she tried to get more comfortable.

"You think-" he paused. "You think you could try to talk Daryl into seeing this way?"

She looked at him confused.

"He is set on this execution because of Rick and Shane's belief that it's the right thing to do." He told the half-truth. "But what he doesn't see is that his word means something in this group. He likes to be the outsider, but truth of the matter is that he's less of one than he thinks. In my opinion, he's closer to being Rick's right hand man than Shane, which is a good thing." He said the last part under his breath.

"I won't be able to convince him. Daryl… well… he's Daryl. There's no changing his mind."

Dale, however, didn't believe this one bit. He had every faith in her ability to effect his decisions, even if she didn't realize it. "Just try. For me."

Glancing up at him, she thought about it before finally nodding in agreement. Now she just had to figure out how to approach Daryl.

**Sorry it's been awhile. :/ Been super busy. I have a lot of the next chapter written but I must sleep. Lol. Please review/favorite/follow and whatnot. :D**


	15. Fallen

While the group made their way into the farmhouse, Daryl went the bedroom. There he found Skye sitting on the edge of the bed looking out through the windows.

"Rick's called a meeting. Wants to talk 'bout Randall."

"I know. I'm ready."

Shifting his position, he shook his head. "You don't have to. You need your rest."

"I want to be there, Daryl," she looked over her shoulder at him. "This is important." She leaned forward trying to gently lift herself from the bed. The wound was tight at her side. It was healing, but it was doing so very slowly. Daryl was at her side in an instant, helping her to her feet. He took her weight onto his shoulders and helped her down the hall to where the others stood waiting in the living room. After sitting her down easily, he moved to the back. Shane, Andrea, and T-Dog stood in front of her at the fireplace. Leaning back against the mantle Shane had his head down but his eyes were looking up to Skye. She quickly looked away knowing that she still had yet to give him an answer. She didn't want to leave the group, but she also didn't know if her mind would change if they decided to go on with killing this boy today. Her heart ached just from thinking about leaving Rick and Daryl behind. Rick had done so much for her and she didn't want to leave him behind.

Those thoughts were shaken from her mind when Rick entered, stopping behind her chair and placing a hand on the back. A few moments of silence passed before someone finally spoke up.

"How do we do this? Take a vote?" Glenn sat to her left leaning forward onto his knees.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"How about majority rules?" Lori offered.

"Well, let's just see where everybody stands," Rick leaned forward onto Skye's chair. "Then we can talk through the options."

"Welp, way I see it is there's only one way to move forward."

Dale's eyes flew to Shane accusingly. "Killing him, right? Why even bother with a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

Rick gave Dale a stern look. "If people believe we should spare him, I wanna know."

"State your reasons and maybe you can persuade people to share your standing," Skye directed to Dale, who stood wringing his hat in his hands.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just me, Glenn, and Skye."

Glenn looked up at Dale apologetically. "I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-"

"They've got you scared!"

"He's not one of us!"

"Neither was I," Skye pointed out.

Glenn looked back at her, clearly sorry. "Yeah, but we've lost so many already."

Dale pointed to Maggie. "How about you? You agree with this?"

Maggie looked uncomfortable. "Could we continue to keep him prisoner?"

"Just another mouth to feed," Daryl stated, surprising Skye. She thought he would've been on their side.

"We could manage." Skye caught Shane's gaze. He looked at her as if he was warning her to back off. She chose to ignore it and look away.

"It may be a lean winter," Hershel spoke from his spot on the couch.

"But we could get him to help out. Get him to do some of the labor."

Rick shook his head. "We're not letting him walk freely around here."

"We could put an escort on him."

Skye nodded, agreeing with Maggie.

"No one wants to volunteer for that duty," Shane shot down.

"I'm sorry, Skye, but I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy."

Deep down she knew Rick was right, but she said, "So instead you'd have him chained up and working like a slave?"

"You of all people, Skye. You should not want him here. You want him roamin' round here while you sleep? And what if he catches you alone?" Skye stared back at Shane, annoyed. Directing his eyes to the others he continued, "Anyway, let's say he joins us. Say he's helpful. He's nice and we let our guard down, he runs off, brings back his thirty men." He looked back to Skye. "They might wanna finish what their friends started. Maybe move on to Lori. Maggie."

"Back off, Shane," Daryl warned, his blood beginning to boil.

"So we kill him for a crime he may never even commit?" Dale threw his hands in the air. "If we do this, we say there's no hope. Rule of law, civilization, is dead."

"Oh my God," Shane turned away.

"Could you drag him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked.

"You barely made it back this time. There's walkers, you could break down, get lost-" Lori went through the possible scenarios to which Daryl added, "Get ambushed."

Glenn shook his head, disapproving. "We can not put our own at risk."

For the first time, Patricia made herself known. "If you go through with this, how would you do it? Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right?" Shane looked to Rick.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane."

"What about the body? Do we bury-"

Dale cut T-Dog off. "Whoa, whoa, hold on! You're talkin' like it's already decided."

"We've been talkin' all day," Daryl said. "Goin' around in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?"

"This is a young man's life! It is worth more than a five minute conversation!" Looking around at everyone he said, "Is this what its come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with them!? Rick, you saved him! And now look at us! He's been tortured. He's going to be executed. How are we any better than those people we're so afraid of?"

Skye was confused about Dale's comment about the boy being tortured. This was something that was news to her. Did someone do something to him? The room was silent.

"We all know what needs to be done here," Shane broke the silence.

"No, Dale's right," Rick changed heart. "We can't leave any stone unturned-"

"So what's the other solution?"

Skye glared up at Andrea while Lori said, "Let Rick finish!" But that didn't stop her.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could-"

"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Everyone's eyes went to Carol, who Skye hadn't even noticed was in the room. "I'm sick of the arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide. Either of you, both of you, just leave me out of it."

Dale pointed at her. "Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference."

"Okay, enough!" Rick looked between the two. "If anybody wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." His eyes found everyone in the room. Maggie and Patricia took their seats while others just averted their gaze. Daryl watched intently as Skye put her hands on both arms of the chair and pushed herself up, grimacing.

Skye had everyone's attention on her, but she looked to Rick. "When you guys found me, I was with a group. You knew absolutely nothing about me. All you knew was that I snuck behind you, following you. Yet you still took me in even though you had less than you have now. Rick, you took a chance on me. I was even armed," she laughed. "But this boy… he's unarmed, hurt, scared, betrayed… The way I look at it is, he deserves a chance more than I did."

"The people you were with weren't murderers and rapists," Shane spoke from behind her.

"I was only with them for a little while. For all he knew I could've been scoping that group out for mine to come in and take over. Point is, you didn't know me. I got my chance. What about his?" Her blue eyes landed on Daryl's, sending a shiver down his spine. It came from thinking what could've been had they not taken her with them that night on the highway.

Dale's eyes were beginning to fill with tears from his desperation. "Please, let us do what's right. Isn't there anybody that will stand with us?"

Skye pleaded Daryl with her eyes, but his lowered to the floor. Her heart sank.

"He's right," Andrea joined them. "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick waited, but when there was no response he looked sadly at Dale.

"Are you all gonna watch, too? No, you'll all go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a part of it." Dale left the room, but not before stopping by Daryl to say, "You're right. This group is broken."

Daryl's eyes finally lifted to meet Skye's yet again. She looked disappointed with him and he couldn't help but feel like he let her down in a way. Nevertheless, he knew why he made his choice.

All that could be seen through the window in Skye's room was darkness with a tiny spot of light that emanated from the barn. Shane, Daryl, Rick and T-Dog had taken Randall out there to carry out their execution. Skye stood, arms crossed, staring out hoping to catch some sign that they weren't going to carry out their plan. There was nothing. No sign of movement, no gunshot. Nothing. She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking and waiting. She couldn't help but wonder why Daryl didn't want to give the boy a chance. To be honest, it sort of bothered her. Sure, she knew he hadn't wanted to bring her along either, but he had accepted it. Maybe he had learned from that mistake and was fighting harder this time. But deep down she knew that wasn't it. She knew it wasn't the food either… So what was it? She felt a spark of hope as she saw the barn door open. Watching she saw Daryl had the boy with him and was leading him towards the shed. Ignoring the pain in her side, she sprinted after them.

When she reached the shed, Daryl was pulling the door shut. He turned and froze when he saw her standing there in the moonlight with her hands resting on her hips.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed restin'?"

"How could you?"

"Go back to bed, Skye."

"Don't patronize me, Daryl. Why would you take their side?"

Just shaking his head, he went to walk past her. She reached out to grab his arm, but instead got a sharp pain, making her withdraw. He stopped and watched her grab her side.

"You alright?"

"He's just a boy, Daryl," she ignored the question.

Rubbing the back of his head he said with frustration, "It's to protect the group."

"Bullshit. He may not even hurt anyone."

"There is a may in there and I'm not willing to take that risk, Skye."

Her eyes followed him as he paced back and forth in front of her. "So instead you would let them kill him? Help even?"

He came to a halt, mere inches from her face. "I would gladly kill him myself if it meant it would keep you safe! 'Cause for some damn reason I can't let anything happen to you." His eyes dropped to her side. "Not again." He didn't back away. She didn't know what to do, so they stood there, staring deep into one another's eyes. That's when they heard it. The bloodcurdling scream that they both recognized as Dale's. All they could think to do was run towards it.

Daryl reached Dale first, tackling the zombie and knocking it to the ground. Taking his knife, he thrust into the walkers decaying skull before scrambling over to Dale's side. He stood and waved his arms in the air.

"Help! Over here!"

Flashlights could be seen in the darkness as the others hurried towards them.

Kneeling down, Daryl spoke to Dale. "Hang in there, buddy."

Reaching them, Skye's hand flew to cover her mouth while tears began to burn her eyes as she fought to keep them from falling. Everyone crowded around trying to help. Dale laid gasping for his breath as he bled out. Andrea cried next to him telling him to hold on. They all hoped Hershel would be able to save him but knew it would be impossible yet they still clung to that hope.

"Hershel, help him," Rick begged.

"He won't make it to the house," Hershel explained. He placed his hand on Rick's shoulder and shook his head sorrowfully.

Realized what this meant, Rick spun on his heels. "No!"

Grief surrounded them as they watched their fallen member struggling, clearly in pain, in the grass. Skye watched as Carl took a couple steps forward to take a look at the walker that had taken Dale down. He seemed upset once he saw it lying there, lifeless. What made Skye wonder was that he had seen walkers before. Why would this one bother him so much?

Rick closed his eyes and grabbed the bridge of his nose as his other hand grasped his pistol. He stood pointing it down at Dale, but quickly put it away.

Andrea looked up at him. "He's suffering. Do something!"

Once again he pulled his weapon out, but still couldn't get himself to pull the trigger. Skye watched as Daryl placed his hand on Rick's, taking the gun from him. With a gentle nod, he stepped up in Rick's place, receiving a grateful nod from Rick in return. Rick stepped back and now Dale looked up past the gun to Daryl's eyes. Dale's groans grew quieter and Daryl said, "Sorry, brother."

Then he pulled the trigger.

**I made a slight change to the scene with Daryl & Dale in the last chapter. Just kind of beefed it up a bit lol. I know this was a short one but I'm still writing so I may be able to get the next on tonight as well. **** As always… I 3 getting messages, reviews and whatnot. Let's me know you're enjoying it!**


	16. Fugitive

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine. Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt."

Rick stood amongst the others as they surrounded the freshly filled grave. Daryl stood with his crossbow propped on his shoulder, opposite where Skye stood next to Glenn staring down into the grass. He watched as her auburn hair danced gently around her face. Her soft gaze met his and they exchanged an understanding glance, both thinking back to what he had said just before Dale's death.

"That kind of honesty is rare… and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be lookin' back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth, who we really are."

Daryl bowed his head, knowing Rick was right. The last time Dale had come to Daryl he had said things that still resonated in his mind.

"In the end he was talkin' about losin' our humanity. He said this group is broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together."

Andrea crossed her arms and looked over to Skye. Both women knew it would be hard, but they would be willing to try.

"Stop feelin' sorry for ourselves. Take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale." Everyone's eyes followed Rick as he walked up to Dale's grave and knelt with his head bowed. He took a few moments of silence to himself and returned to Lori's side. The group dispersed. Skye took her moment to kneel at Dale's grave. She closed her eyes and thought back and thought through all the times she had actually talked with Dale. There weren't many and this was something she regretted. His priority was not just their safety but also their integrity. It wasn't an easy task that he had taken on. She couldn't help but think that his death would be what really pushes them to hold onto what integrity they had left. A tear trickled down her cheek just before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Opening her eyes she said, "I just wish I had taken more time to get to know him. I hadn't really given him that. The time. I barely knew him, and yet he knew so much about me. He never really voiced it but I could tell. The way he would look at me, I could just tell." She looked up into Daryl's soft eyes, and he held a hand down to her. Her hand wrapped in his and he lifted her to her feet.

"He came to me. Right before we went in to talk 'bout Randall. Tried to get me to see his way. Said some things to me and it got me thinkin'." He saw the way she looked back at him as if she was waiting for more. Rubbing the back of his head nervously, he went on, "Said people look to me. That Rick-" He stopped and lowered his eyes.

"People do look to you, Daryl. He was right." She could tell he was still not entirely convinced. Placing her hand on his arm she said, "I do."

His eyes quickly found hers, but he didn't know what to say. It definitely meant something to hear her say that. He just nodded his head, hoping it would show some of his appreciation. Biting his lip, he looked to where the group stood by the truck in the distance. "We should probably head over."

Dropping her hand from his arm, she walked alongside him across the field. They walked in silence for a few moments before she thought back to the previous night.

"Um- It may be nothing, but I think something happened with Carl yesterday."

Daryl looked over at her. "Like what?"

"I'm not sure. I just saw the way he reacted when he saw that walker… the one that killed Dale. It was strange. Was if he had seen it before."

"Kid was probably just scared."

"No, this was different. Carl's seen walkers before and none of them have made him react that way."

"Hmm. Well, I guess just keep an eye on him."

"I guess."

He hit her arm lightly with his own. "Let's just see what they're cookin' up over here. Rick's got his game face on."

Skye chuckled.

As they drew closer they could here Rick talking about moving closer to everyone else. "It'll be tight. Fourteen people in one house."

"Don't worry about that," Hershel's southern accent hit Skye's ears. "With the swamp hardenin', the creek dryin' up."

"And with fifty head of cattle on the property we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell," Maggie added.

"She's right. We should've moved you in awhile ago."

Rick sprang into action. "Alright, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors, facing out towards the road. We'll need a lookout in the windmill and the barn loft. That should give us sidelines for both sides of the property. T-Dog you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone comin' and goin'. I need you and Daryl on double duty."

"Gothcha," T-Dog agreed, and walked off. Shane's never took his gaze from Rick as he watched him give everyone tasks.

"I'll stock the basement with food and water. Enough that we can survive there a few days if need be," Hershel came around the truck with his hands full. Skye stood waiting for a task.

"What about patrols?" Andrea stepped in front of her.

"Let's get this area locked down first. After that, Shane will assign shifts while Daryl and I take Randall offsite and cut him loose."

"What can I do?" Skye looked to Rick and she took notice of the fact that he looked down to her injured side. "I'm hurt, Rick. Not useless."

"I know. Help Maggie get the house ready. She's making room for everyone to have somewhere to sleep." She nodded, happy just to be able to help.

"We back to that now."

Skye heard Shane address Rick and looked back.

"It's what I planned first time around. Poor execution."

"I'd say that's a slight understatement."

Rick stepped into Shane. "You don't agree? This is what's happenin'. Swallow it. Move on."

Shane lowered his voice. "You know that Dale's death and the prisoner, that's two separate things, right?"

Rick shifted his weight.

"You wanna take Daryl as your wingman? Be my guest."

"Thank you," Rick spoke.

"You got it."

The tension between the two was overwhelming. Shane's gaze fell on her as she stood looking at him incredulously before heading to the house.

* * *

"So you and Daryl?"

Skye looked across the bedroom at Maggie, shocked. She tried to play it cool. "What do you mean?"

"I saw you. At Dale's grave. There's something there, isn't there?" A wry smile played across her lips.

"Honestly, I don't know. I know I feel something when I'm with him. But," she stopped.

"Yes?"

"I don't know if he feels something like that for me. Sometimes it seems like he does, but others-" Skye laughed. "Let's just say Daryl is a very mysterious man."

"Mmm, mysterious can be a good thing."

"Not when you don't know how much time you have to figure them out."

"True. But it's obvious he cares for you."

"But he could be caring for me like a sister or something."

"Have you asked him?"

Skye couldn't even imagine how that conversation would go. She laughed, "No way." The two women carried sheets from the closet down the stairs. Everyone else was still outside loading the trucks up, but it looked like they were almost finished. "I'm scared, I guess."

"Of?"

"How he'll react. He's the type that if you push too hard, he'll move further away and I don't want to risk that. I'm afraid he'll just pick up and leave."

"Understandable."

"But what about you and Glenn? It seemed like you two were getting along great but now it seems like there's a distance."

"I made the mistake of saying that I loved him. Freaked him out a bit, I think. He said that it made him freeze when you guys went to fetch my dad." Maggie looked sad as she sat some sheets on the couch.

Skye sat some in the other room and called, "I'm sure he'll come around. He probably just needs some time." Thinking back to the conversation she had with Rick and Glenn on the ride there she said, "You're the first woman to tell him that. On a romantic level at least."

"Never would've guessed that," Maggie joked.

An engine rumbled and Skye looked out the window to see Daryl on his motorcycle followed by the others. Before they could make it to the door she turned to Maggie. "Tell him to stay with you in your room. Then you guys can talk." She smiled.

"Only if you do the same," Maggie winked, leaving Skye frozen in place as everyone piled into the house.

Lori jerked her head towards the dining room, "The men are in there." Glenn and Jimmy made their way to where she had gestured. Skye hurried to help Lori with the items she carried.

"Here let me help you."

"It's okay, you're hurt."

"You're pregnant," Skye fought. The two women smiled and split the load. Skye could definitely feel more pain in her side, and she realized she hadn't taken a look at it since she ran out to find Daryl the night before. Skye could hear Maggie enter the dining room, where Glenn stood at the table.

"You can put yourself up in my room."

"With you dad in the house?"

Maggie crossed the room to him, boot heels clicking on the wood floor.

"I just- I'm just going to put my stuff over there."

Glenn's words made Skye's face fall. If Maggie couldn't get Glenn to stay with her, how did she expect Skye to be successful with Daryl? Maggie turned and gave Skye a look of disappointment before leaving the room.

Stepping out onto the porch to grab a load, Skye could hear hammering in the distance. Searching for the source she spotted Shane up on the windmill, building the lookout. Contemplating whether or not it was a good time to give him her decision, she ended up heading out to him. When she finally stood below him she held a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun and called up to him.

"How's it comin'?"

He looked down to her before returning to his work. "It's comin'."

"Why don't you get some help?"

"Won't have any luck, that's why."

"Well, do you mind coming down here a second. I'd like to talk."

"I'm a little busy for chit chat right now, Skye."

"Please. It'll just take a second," she pleaded.

"Can't just say it from down there then?" Shane didn't seem like he was going to oblige.

"I've been thinkin' about how you asked me to go away with you." This caught Shane's attention and he looked back to her then began to descend down the windmill.

Grabbing a rag from the truck he wiped his hands of and said, "And?"

Avoiding his gaze, she focused on his hands. "The answer is no."

Shane had to admit he wasn't really all that shocked. "No, huh? And why would you want to stay here?"

"It's just- These people… They took me in and made me a part of their group. You included. How could I leave them behind? To me it would feel like betrayal."

"So what you just play their little games? Hang around people who torture people?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Shane?"

"Rick had Daryl torture that boy. Oh, you didn't know? I'm shocked," he mocked.

Skye swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm sure they had their reasons. They wouldn't just do it for the hell of it."

Shane laughed in her face. "You're somethin', you know that? I thought we could be something together, but now I see you would rather stick around here for that redneck!"

Angry, Skye shook her head and spun around to leave, but he just kept yellin' at her.

"You go on, sweetheart! Soon you'll see you're mistake! Rick and Daryl won't be around forever! Mark my words!"

Off on the roof of the shed, Daryl sat patching up the holes when he heard shouting. He looked over and saw Shane yelling after Skye. He couldn't make out what he was going on about, but watched as the grown man punched at the truck and stomped back off to the windmill. Daryl narrowed his eyes and saw Skye walked quickly back to the farmhouse, arms crossed. This was something he was going to make sure to ask her about later.

* * *

Hands shaking from her encounter with Shane, Skye sat in the chair in her temporary bedroom trying to calm herself down. The way Shane had said 'mark my words' had her worried. Lately, she had noticed he seemed to be deteriorating and she wasn't sure what he was capable of. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and Daryl appeared in the doorway.

"Hey," Skye greeted weakly.

"What was that about, Skye?"

She raised her eyebrows in question.

"You know what I mean. Shane." He sat on the bed across from her.

She shook her head and looked away. "Awhile back Shane had asked me to leave the group with him. Said we could make it better on our own. I hadn't given him an answer until today."

"Take it you said no."

She nodded.

"You alright? I heard him shoutin' at you."

"Yeah, I'm fine. He's just an ass."

Daryl chuckled. "Yeah, you could say that." He paused before asking, "So why?"

"Why what?"

"Why say no?"

"Let's just say I didn't just say no because he's batshit crazy."

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded.

"Then what else?"

Skye thought carefully before she answered. What she had said to Maggie about not wanting to push him away was still loud in her mind. "Got a few things holding me here." Her eyes met his.

"Daryl!"

The two looked to the door as Rick called for him through the house.

"He must be ready to go." Daryl pushed up from the bed.

Just as he reached the door Skye said, "Daryl, stay with me tonight."

Daryl froze with his hand on the doorframe.

"I just-"she stopped short and he looked back at her over his shoulder, waiting. "Just please stay with me."

He nodded his head slightly then went to find Rick. A small smile played on Skye's lips.

* * *

Boots crunching in the gravel, Skye ran from the house towards the shed, where the others were searching for signs of where Randall could've gone. Skye stopped at Daryl's side.

"What happened?"

"Randall escaped." Daryl's eyes searched the area.

"How did he get the door open?"

"Didn't. I just opened it. Must've escaped from the top or somethin'."

Skye couldn't believe it. Her heart sped up a bit. Rick stepped from the shed.

"Cuffs are still latched. Must've slipped 'em."

"Is that possible?" Carol breathed.

Andrea emerged. "It is if you've nothin' to lose."

Hershel pushed the door shut and examined the latch. "Door was secured from the outside."

"Then how'd he get out?" Glenn was frantic.

They all began to try to figure it out amongst themselves, that is, until they heard the shouts from Shane.

"Rick!"

"What happened!?"

"He's armed. He's got my gun."

"You okay?" Carl looked to his unstable role model.

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. Clocked me in the face."

"Alright, Hershel. T-dog. Get everybody back in the house. Daryl. Glenn. Come with us."

Daryl loaded his crossbow.

"I should come with you! I can help!"

Daryl turned from Skye and followed after Rick. "Don't think so. Go back with the others."

"Daryl!"

Daryl spun on her. "Skye! Not now! Go back in the house. If he's got a gun I can't protect you!"

Hershel stepped up and grabbed her arm. "Come on, darlin'. I need to get you to the house. Looks as if you ripped your stitches at some point." He looked to her shirt where there was some dried blood.

Defeated, she turned and went with the others. She knew Daryl was right, but something felt off about the whole thing.

* * *

"Somethin' isn't right about this, Hershel." Skye sat on the bed while Hershel stitched her up.

"I know it. But there's nothing we can do. We just need to take care of those here."

"Shane's gone crazy. And earlier today it seemed as if he made a threat towards Daryl and Rick. I can't be sure but-"

"Daryl won't let anything happen to Rick. And vice versa. They'll be fine. To me, Shane has always seemed crazy. Always had my doubts about him."

"He wasn't like this when I first met them. Sure he had his moments, but not like this."

"Shane is bad for he group. He'll bring us all down in the end." He looked up to her, "Daryl on the other hand. He could be a real leader. Good man. He'll stay true to the group."

She got the feeling Hershel was hinting at something as well. Of course he was right. Daryl was a good man. But now he was out in the woods with the man who would do anything to get his way and that is what scared her the most.

**Just three more days till I leave for the beach, then it'll be at least a week until I get to update again. **** I'm trying to make up for it by getting you some new chapters posted before I go. Yay! Lol. We're getting down to the end of season 2. I'm going to throw some extra content in between the last episode of season two and the first of season three to beef it up some. Season 4 needs to come quick! **** Review/Follow/Favorite/Message! Any or all of the above and I'll love you forever! :P Thank you, guys!**


	17. Swarm

Crickets sang loudly outside, completely unaffected by the apocalypse that they now lived in. No longer did the moon shine through her window, lighting up the rustic furniture strewn about the room, but only snuck in through tiny cracks between the boards that clung to the side of the house. Jimmy and a few others had boarded up the windows in attempt to keep the dead at bay. Not having a window to peer through, Skye laid on her side, eyes closed, trying desperately not to worry. Her bright blue eyes sprang open at the sound of a gunshot being fired out in the distant fields of Hershel's property. Her heart stopped. Who had been shot? A Walker? Shane? Rick? … Daryl? Dread filled her as the possibilities flooded her mind, but just a few moments later it was doubled as a second shot rang out. Closing her eyes again, she inhaled trying to keep calm and felt a single tear trail down her cheek.

To her surprise, the bedroom door creaked open. Rolling over, she wiped the back of her hand across her cheek and saw Daryl standing in the doorway. His crossbow was slung over his shoulder and he looked to be unharmed.

"You're back," she let out a breath of relief.

"Yeah… but Shane and Rick ain't."

She searched his face for any sign of worry for the two men but found none, not a single hint to what he was thinking. His eyes wandered to the bed, wanting to lay next to her but hesitant to do so. Skye rolled around to her other side, facing him, and patted the place on the bed he was eyeing. The gesture may have convinced him but he still felt nervous as hell as he sat his crossbow on the armchair before plopping down onto the mattress. Crossing his arms behind his head, he stared up at the ceiling, pondering.

"What is it? You guys find Randall?"

"Yeah, we found 'em."

"Well? Is he back in the barn?"

"He's a walker. Or was."

"What?"

"Me and Glenn took 'em down."

"So you're the ones who fired the shot?"

"No," he stated bluntly. "That wasn't us."

Her forehead scrunched up from worry. "Rick and Shane, then? You think they found the walker that bit Randall?"

Daryl's head tilted towards her, eyes tracing the soft curves of her body as she laid less than a foot away from him, then back up to her face to reply. "He wasn't bit."

"What do you-"

"Neck was broke. Sign of a struggle."

"He had to be bit, Daryl. Maybe you just missed-" she said frantically before being cut off by Daryl placing an index finger under her chin.

"I didn't miss a thing. You know why? 'Cause there wasn't a bite to find." A spark of fear flashed through her eyes. Before he knew what happened she flung her arm around his chest and buried her head against his chest. His left arm still laid behind his head while the other hung idly behind her, debating whether or not he should wrap it around her, holding her to him.

"This isn't good, Daryl," her muffled voice said against his chest. "I gotta tell you… I wasn't completely honest with Shane earlier. I told him that the reason I said no was because everyone here treated me like family now. Truth is," she paused. "I still feel like an outsider half the time. But you… you've never treated me like one. Sure you were against me coming along at first, but that was you trying to protect the group. Once I was with you guys, you treated me like everyone else."

Daryl laid there staring at the back of her head, afraid of what he thought may be to follow.

"It's you that keeps me here, Daryl. Without you, I wouldn't have made it this far. I would've died back there at the CDC." Skye tilted her head back, trying to catch a glimpse of his face, wanting to see his reaction. His eyes gazed into hers softly, his mind reeling. His feelings for this girl were already complicated in his mind, and he needed time to sort them out. They were things he didn't understand, and quite frankly he thought they would get him killed. He was more protective of her than himself, and there may be a time that comes where he can't do both. He opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped as the door was flung open, revealing a distressed Lori. Daryl and Skye bolted upright, feeling as if they had been caught red handed.

Big doe eyes pleaded Daryl, "Could you please go back out there and find Rick and Shane? And find out what the hell is goin' on?"

Swinging his legs over the bed, he stood up and retrieved his crossbow before replying, "You got it."

Skye tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, shyly staring down at the floral cotton sheets. Daryl was thankful Lori came in when she did, saving him from the crazy feelings inside of him, and keeping him from saying he would regret later, even if it was only delaying the inevitable.

Skye remained on the bed mentally kicking her self. She had no idea what had compelled her self to confess that to Daryl, even with so recently telling Maggie that she was afraid of pushing him away. Sitting taller on the bed, she thought she heard a funny noise. Listening more carefully, her eyes widened with fear and pushing off from the bed she bolted through the door. Rushing to the porch she found the others preparing themselves for the terror that approached. Skye's stomach churned as she looked out at waves of the dead stalked towards the house and a horde headed for the barn.

Maggie was grabbing for a shotgun with Glenn watching with worry in his eyes, clearly worried about his love interest wielding a weapon without experience.

"Maggie?"

"You grow up country you pick up a thing or two," she explained.

"They got numbers. It's no use," Daryl protested.

"You can go if you want," Hershel loaded a weapon of his own.

Daryl's eyes connected with Skye's. "Nah. Got somethin' holdin' me here." Looking back to Hershel, he asked, "Think we can take them all on?"

"We got guns. We got cars. This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel cocked his shotgun and walked from the porch.

"Alright. Good a night as any," Daryl said, swinging his legs over the porch railing and jogging for his bike.

Skye grabbed a machete and a shotgun lying on the floor, not seeing the bag with her own guns. The vehicles took off onto the property, and Skye made her way over to Hershel's right as he stood taking out walkers one by one. As the vehicles circled around, shots popped off as Glenn, Daryl and Andrea fired on the dead. Skye's face was lit up by the flames that blazed out from the barn windows, and as they flickered on they cast an orange tint across the night sky. From behind them, Lori could be heard yelling Hershel's name, who just continued to pump his shotgun. Skye turned and saw the women on the porch clinging onto multiple backpacks and other belongings. Facing back to the front, Skye flung her gun up just in time to smash it into a walkers face as it attempted to bite down on her neck, but it knocked the gun from her hand, sending it flying five feet away. Scrambling to get away, she ran, boots pounding in the grass as she dodged numerous clamping jaws driving her to the forest.

* * *

The scene was horrific - the barn ablaze, the cataclysm of walkers, and the once pristine white farmhouse all boarded up and destroyed. Daryl sat watching from a safe distance on his bike. While driving around he had tried to keep an eye on Skye, but he had lost her. He had nearly gotten swarmed while looking for her, and ended up fleeing to keep from getting himself killed. He knew he should go back, but he would be no good to her dead and he knew he should've just had her ride on the back of his bike but he hadn't thought of it at the time. Someone screamed up ahead and his heart dropped, realizing it could be Skye. Either way he instantly brought the bike back to life and sped over. It was Carol, but she wasn't alone. Ravenous walkers hurried after her, trying desperately to sink their teeth into her.

Pulling up in front of her he said, "Come on. I ain't got all day."

She jumped on behind him as the walkers closed in, reaching out for her. "Oh! Go!" she screamed. Revving the engine, Daryl drove on, angry at not knowing where Skye had ended up or if she was even alive.

* * *

Trees flew by as Skye weaved in and out through the countless trunks of the woods, legs aching with every step as they pressed onward. She tried to keep distance between her and the corpses following after her, taking any out that she could. She had gotten it down to four but they were too close together and she was just too tired. Hiding behind a tree, she pressed her back up against its rough bark, scratching her back. She attempted to catch her breath, and exhaling deeply she peeked around the tree trunk. Three of the four walkers lumbered towards her, walking straight into bushes and branches as they went. A hand slammed down onto her shoulder and she let out a small scream, seeing the rotting teeth biting at her. Without a second thought, her machete flung through the air slamming into its skull, and it fell to the ground where it let out its final breath. Looking back and forth around the woods she quickly decided on a direction and pushed on, three walkers on her tail.

* * *

Shutting his bike off, Daryl looked around the reunited group searching for a pair of blue eyes. He noticed they were missing Jimmy, Patricia… no Andrea, no Shane… and no Skye. His stomach tied into a knot at the thoughts that entered his mind. Rick clapped a hand into his and Daryl tried to hide how worried he really was.

"How'd you find everyone?" Rick asked.

"Saw these guys' tail lights zig-zaggin' all over the road. Figured he had to be Asian, drivin' like that," Daryl teased.

"Good one," Glenn nodded, humoring Daryl.

"Where's the rest of us?"

"We're the only ones who've made it so far," Rick answered, giving him a knowing look.

Lori stood. "Shane?"

Rick shook his head.

"Andrea?" Glenn wiped his hands on his pants, looking around.

"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol answered.

T-Dog stood, hanging his arms on the truck door. "We saw her go down."

"Patricia?" Hershel questioned.

"They got her, too. Took her right from me," Beth cried, and Daryl lowered his head. "I was holdin' onto her, daddy. She just- What about Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV. It was overrun." Rick gave her a sorry glance.

"You see Skye?"

Daryl looked up at the eldest Greene daughter searching her father's face.

"Chased off by walkers," he replied, then looked to Daryl adding, "A lot of them."

"But did you see her go down?"

Everyone was silent.

Daryl grabbed onto his bike's handles. "I'm gonna go back."

Rick grabbed his shoulder. "No."

"We can't just leave her!"

"She's probably not even there. She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or-" Rick stopped short, and Daryl narrowed his gaze on his leader, knowing what he was thinking. "There's no way to find her."

"So we're not even going to look for her?" Glenn asked.

Daryl sat chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"Gotta keep moving. Walkers crawling all over here. I say head east."

Daryl couldn't believe Rick was suggesting they leave. He sat staring off at something across the road.

"Daryl, you with us?" Rick drew him back to the conversation, and he nodded. They all got back into their cars. As Daryl followed behind Rick's truck he shot one last look at the white paint that ran down the windshield where Skye had left Sophia a note when she had been lost. Time had erased most of the letters, leaving only a hint of the past.

* * *

"We're not safe with him."

Daryl sat poking at the fire in front of him, embers shone brightly as he stirred up the sticks feeding the fire.

"Keepin' somethin' like that from us. Why do you need him? He's only goin' to pull you down." Carol had been going on about Rick for the past few minutes, but thoughts of Skye had been tuning her out till now.

"Nah, Rick's done alright by me."

"You're his henchman and I'm a burden. You deserve better."

He stared back at her and the truth was that he knew he had better but he let her get left behind. This was all his fault. "What do you want?"

"A man of honor."

"Rick has honor."

There was a cracking of twigs and a rustle of leaves setting everyone on edge.

"What was that?" Beth scooted closer to her father.

"Could be anything," Daryl said as he drew his crossbow strap over his head, reading his weapon while scanning the forest for any sign of movement. "Could be a raccoon, a possum-"

"A walker," Glenn offered.

"We need to leave! I mean, what're we waitin' for?" Carol panicked.

"Which way?" Glenn asked, ignoring Carol.

"It came from over there."

Daryl followed to where Maggie pointed and spearheaded the group. The darkness was certainly hindering his vision. He could barely see in front of him. Another stick broke at his left and he spun on it pointing his crossbow straight into Skye's dirt covered face. He lowered his crossbow, wondering if she were really standing there. She didn't say a word, but Daryl could see her legs beginning to buckle. He dropped his crossbow to the ground just in time to catch her in his arms, unconscious.

**Omg! I am having so much fun writing this story but never seem to have the time I want! I almost had this posted for you hours ago but had to run to the store. **** Review/Follow/Favorite/Message! All are appreciated! Thank you, guys!**


	18. Backtrack

"Hershel!"

Daryl searched the unconscious body that now hung heavy in his arms, relieved to find there were no bite marks. But where there were no bites there were plenty of bruises and scrapes covering her arms, legs and face. Dirt was smeared across her cheeks with some blood mixed in, almost making it look as if she was wearing war paint. With one knee bent down onto the ground, he propped her up onto it, keeping her in a seated position. Heat radiated from her skin sending alarms through Daryl's mind, making him worry all the more.

"Is she breathin'?"

Daryl looked away from her only to make eye contact with Hershel who now stood over him.

"Yeah, but barely."

"Get her to the SUV. You can lay her down in the back."

Hershel rolled his sleeves up and hurried over to lift the door at the back of the Hyundai. Swinging his left arm under Skye's legs, Daryl lifted her up and carried her bridal style to where Hershel waited. After he got her into the vehicle, he took a few steps back rubbing the back of his neck out of nervousness as he watched Hershel and Maggie get to work.

"She's burnin' up." Hershel looked to his eldest daughter. "We need to remove any unnecessary clothing to help her cool down. Her temperature needs to drop as quickly as we can or she could have a heat stroke if she hasn't already."

As Maggie began to remove Skye's shirt and shorts, Hershel turned to Glenn, who stood idly by wanting to help. "Fetch some water and any rags you can find." With a nod of his head, Glenn took off towards the creek that was luckily nearby. While he waited for Glenn to return, Hershel examined her abdomen for any sign of infection in her old wound. It seemed to be alright, just a little redder than he would've liked, but he knew it wasn't the cause of her current state.

Rick was suddenly at Hershel's side with Glenn, who handed the water-drenched rags to Hershel. As he laid them at key points on Skye's body, Rick began to question, "What happened!? What're you doin'?"

"Rick, I think Skye is suffering from heat exhaustion, possibly a heat stroke. We need to get her core temperature down to stabilize her and prevent any permanent damage."

Hershel placed the rags at her armpits, neck, back and groin. These places were key in lowering temperature quickly. Rick ran a hand through his hair and stepped back, giving Hershel some room. As he turned, he came face to face with the rest of the group, their stares boring into him. The looks on their faces told him that they blamed him, not just for this, but for everything. Closing his eyes, he placed his hands on his hips and let his head fall toward the dirt. "What now?"

"This wouldn't have happened if-"

"If what, Carol?" Rick cut off. "You think you could do things better? Be my guest! There's the door!" His hand jutted out towards the menacing forest, blackened by the lack of moonlight. "See how far you get! It's easy to point the finger of blame, but let me ask you something – who here has stepped up to make the hard decisions I've had to make? Hmm? Anyone?" His eyes wandered from face to face, pausing the longest on Carol's. Pointing toward the SUV he continued, "She is the only one who has stood by me for every decision I've had to make. Only one! Not one of you can say that. Do you think I would put her in danger willingly? My goal is to keep everyone safe! When the farm was hit there was no time for figurin' up a plan! I acted! We all acted! So if any of you think you could handle makin' decisions not knowin' if you're puttin' others at risk, have at it!"

He went to walk toward the forest but stopped, rounding on them once more. "And for those of you who decide to stay let's get one thing straight – this is no longer a democracy." With one more hard stare at each of the group members left, heading back to the creekside.

* * *

Nearly an hour had passed and Daryl was finding it extremely hard to keep from staring over at where Hershel stood trying to keep the rags that laid on Skye's body cool. His lip was becoming raw from where he had been chewing at it relentlessly, as his right leg bounced anxiously. Pushing up from his seat, he gave in and headed over to check in with the old man.

"How's she doin'?"

"Not good, I'm afraid. Seems she's in shock. An IV is something she desperately needs, but it's also something we don't have. The only thing we can do now is make sure we keep her cool and let her rest. Hopefully it'll be enough."

Each word hit Daryl hard and Hershel stared over at him with concern in his eyes. Not having the materials he needed to make sure she had a speedy recovery made Hershel worry and he could see the same worry in Daryl's eyes and the way he chewed at his thumbnail.

"I'm going to stay right next to her. As soon as she wakes up we'll need to ensure she drinks plenty of water. If she has heat exhaustion she's almost certainly dehydrated. And we need to make sure it's good water, not somethin' we get from the creek."

The look in Hershel's eyes told him he was going to have to go offsite for what he was asking for and Daryl didn't hesitate for one second before saying, "The water truck back on the highway."

"Could be dangerous. We don't know if any walkers made their way up that far yet. But if we don't get her some good water she could have some serious damage – or worse."

"I'll go with you." Maggie stepped up next to Daryl, causing Glenn to sit upright ready to protest, but before he had a chance she defended her decision. "You'll need someone to help hold onto the container while you drive and if there's trouble I'll be able to shoot."

Daryl looked to Hershel to see if he would fight her on it, but he could tell the man understood it was something that needed to be done whether he liked it or not. Nodding to Maggie Daryl asked, "You ready to go then?"

"Yep. Let's go."

The two made their way over to the motorcycle, the sun gleaming off the hard surface as it crept over the treetops. As soon as Maggie was on behind him, Daryl sped off back the way they had came, hurrying to get to that water truck. The cool morning air whipped around them as they both hoped they wouldn't run into any trouble, that it would be a quick run. But they were both disappointed as they saw a handful of walkers standing around the abandoned cars, staring aimlessly into space. Hearing the sound of the motorcycle engine, they turned and faced their approaching prey.

"We're gonna have to take what we can out. Clear a path," Daryl yelled back to her. "Use your hatchet! Don't want to draw more in!"

Two walkers could be seen standing on the other side of the highway, barely even moving. But up ahead Daryl could see at least four in their path and one making his way across the median. As they approached the first, who was standing in front of an old Volkswagen, Maggie readying her weapon, slicing through the air as the motorcycle drove by it. The walker dropped to the pavement, dead. The next one was just up ahead and Daryl swung the back wheel around, making the bike stop perfectly in front of it. Maggie thrust the hatchet, dealing a fatal blow, while Daryl drew his crossbow, sending a bolt straight into the head of the walker in the median. Throwing his crossbow back over his shoulder, careful not to hit Maggie in the face, he pressed on towards the water truck. Two more walkers stood blocking their way, standing side by side between a rusted pickup truck and a maroon Camry, but they proved to be no match for Daryl and Maggie's handheld weapons. Each slammed their weapons into the corpses' heads.

They exchanged glances, wondering if it could truly be this easy, before kicking off to cross the remaining distance between them and the truck.

"I'll grab the water. I can hold it here," he gestured to the space in front of him on the bike. "But you'll probably have to hold onto it while we drive.

"Sounds good."

Daryl left the bike running, Maggie remaining seated, eyes watchful. The truck hadn't been touched since they had been here before, and fifteen jugs of water glistened back at Daryl. If only they could've brought the SUV. They could take so much water with them, but they couldn't. There was no way they would be able to maneuver it all the way to this water truck, it was just too dangerous to even try since they didn't know what to expect walker-wise. A look of scorn crossed his face before he reached up and yanked at one of the jugs, catching it as it plummeted into his arms. He turned back to the motorcycle. Before he knew what had happened, something had a hold of the back of his shirt, yanking him backward.

"Daryl!" Maggie screamed, panicked and hurrying to help.

Struggling to keep his footing, he also fought to break free of his hissing attackers grasp. Blood splattered on his face as a gunshot rang out, causing birds to fly from their homes in the trees. Daryl's eyes shot over to where Maggie sat on the bike, gun pointed over in his direction, hands shaking and eyes wide.

Breathing hard, Daryl said, "Nice shot."

Her hands were still shaking as she lowered the pistol. "I shouldn't have done that," she breathed out fear filling her voice.

Daryl hopped back onto the bike and lifted the water into position in front of him. "You did good. We're just goin' have to move out sooner rather than later. Now hold onto this so we can get back to the group."

Maggie reached in front of Daryl, grasping at the plastic container, careful not to let it fall.

* * *

Pulling up to the group they saw Hershel, Rick, Carol and Glenn hurrying to them, clearly worried.

"Are you alright?" Hershel looked to Daryl and Maggie.

Daryl sat the water onto the pavement and waited for Maggie to remove herself from the back of his bike. "Yeah, we're good."

"We heard a shot," Glenn stated.

Daryl exchanged a glance with Maggie before responding. "Ran into a few walkers. Took most of 'em down by hand but one caught us by surprise."

Hershel's eyes landed on the water. "At least you made it back safely and with what you were after."

"Yeah, but now we need to think about movin' out as soon as possible. Walkers would've heard the shot. Even though it was back a ways, we can't take the risk of them runnin' into us." Rick hooked a finger into his belt loop. "What do you think we should do, Daryl?"

Taken a bit off guard by Rick seeking his opinion, Daryl answered, "I think we should move south. Saw some houses that direction when Carol and I were looking for survivors. Might find something useful there."

Rick nodded, "Makes sense. Let's go forth with that plan."

Hershel stepped up. "Rick, Skye can't travel too long. If we keep her cooped up in a hot car we're only going to make things worse. We need to find somewhere we can lay low while she recuperates."

"And maybe these houses are the perfect place. At least until she is up and feeling well enough to push further."

Daryl looked past them to the Hyundai, to where the door was open to allow a cool breeze to pass through. Skye's auburn hair could be seen just barely peeking out from where she laid in the back. Bringing his gaze back to Rick and the others he said, "So what're we waiting for?"

**So sorry it took so long! I just got back home yesterday evening from our vacation. Therefore, I have some catching up to do. ;) This chapter may be short, but have no fear! There should be another update here soon! **


	19. Awakening

Floorboards covered with dried crumbling leaves that had blown in through open windows and doors, creaked under the pressure of Daryl's boots. Slowly placing one foot in front of the other he crept through the house, carefully checking every turn for any walkers that could get the jump on him. Peering into the dining room he saw overturned chairs and broken glasses scattered around the room. Passing through, he made his way into the kitchen; Not to his surprise, all of the cupboard doors were wide open and the drawers barely hung from their places, revealing the emptiness inside. This was the first house they had come across on their journey south. It was a farmhouse, not very different from the Greene's, but it had clearly fallen quite early during the outbreak. The others were just outside searching for any gas and supplies that they could scrounge up, while Daryl cleared the house. So far there had been no sign of walkers, but he didn't count them lucky yet. Still holding his crossbow up, he climbed the stairs occasionally checking over his shoulder. When he reached the top he saw that there were a total of four rooms, not including a couple closets. The first door was slightly opened, and kicking the door gently with his foot, he opened it the rest of the way. It was a bathroom. The shower curtain had been partially ripped from its hooks, and the rugs showed signs of a struggle. The second and third rooms were kid's rooms. From the looks of it, they were young kids at that, one boy and one girl. Pausing with his hand on the next door's handle, Daryl took a deep breath before swinging it open. Nothing. This room looked to be untouched, a guest room maybe. The queen-sized bed was still neatly made and covered in extremely frilly sheets. Making a face of disgust, Daryl turned and went for the last door at the end of the hall. Again, nothing. Just the master bedroom. As he was turning to leave, something caught his eye, making him return his gaze to look at something shining from atop the dresser across the room. Lowering his crossbow, he stepped over to get a closer look. Taking the object into his hand, he slid it into his back pocket, knowing exactly who he wanted to give it to.

* * *

The sunlight hit Daryl as he stepped out onto the porch, making him have to shield his eyes with his forearm. Although the sun had him partially blinded, he could make out the approaching figures of Rick and Hershel.

"All clear."

"No walkers?"

Daryl shook his head at Rick. "None at all. Can't say it'll stay that way for long though. Not with them hearin' that gunshot. Drivin' may have given us some distance on them, but not much."

Hershel spoke, "Is there somewhere we can lay Skye?"

"Bedrooms upstairs. Take your pick."

Hershel nodded, and the three men headed over to the SUV. "One of you two, carry her. I'll follow with the water."

Without hesitation, Daryl swung his crossbow to his back and opened the back. Skye laid covered with a light blanket, her black bra strap the only part visible. Careful to keep it that way, Daryl slid an arm under her legs and one under her back as he easily lifted her from the vehicle. Walking towards the house, Daryl peered down at her hoping to catch a glimpse of her bright blue eyes shining up at him. Instead, her head rested softly against his chest, eyes closed.

They got her situated upstairs and Hershel placed the back of his hand against her forehead.

"She's still quite warm, but it has gone down significantly."

"Think she'll be awake soon?" Rick asked

"Hard tellin'. Her body has to heal, rest. We've all been through so much we're all exhausted. Then you throw dehydration, heat, and fightin' for your life on top of that… well, who knows how much rest she'll be needin'."

Not wanting to hear anymore, Daryl said, "I'm gonna go out for a hunt. We could all use some food."

"Want some help?"

Daryl looked away from Rick, heading for the door. "Nah. Won't be gone long."

* * *

Eyes blinking open, Skye looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Panicking, she bolted upright but was met with a throbbing in her head that made her vision blur. Placing a hand to her head, she brought her knees up to rest her forehead on. Once the pain had slightly subsided, she raised her head to take in her surroundings. She sat in a four-post bed with red cotton sheets, surrounded by pillows. There was an expensive looking armoire across from her and a vanity mirror next to it. Various perfume bottles, all shapes and sizes, were scattered on the vanity accompanied by different types of jewelry. There were two windows in this room, but the only things she could see from where she sat were trees, lots of them. One thing she knew for sure was that she was no longer at the farm. What had happened? She couldn't remember much, just that the farm had been overrun and she got separated. Her heart began to race as she wondered if anyone had made it. As a breeze blew through the window, she felt a chill run across her skin, making her realize she sat in her underwear. She yanked the blanket up over herself as the bedroom door opened.

Her heart leapt as she saw Maggie entering carrying what looked like clothes. Maggie's face lit up as she saw Skye staring back at her.

"You're awake!?" She went around the bed and sat next to Skye. "We've been worried."

"What-" Skye closed her eyes and shook her head lightly.

"You had heat exhaustion. Dad said you may have even had a heat stroke."

"How did you find me?"

"We didn't. You found us." Maggie's face grew sad. "You don't remember?"

Skye shook her head.

"Somehow you found your way to our camp. None of us had seen where you had went so we couldn't go looking for you. Andrea was lost as well."

"And she made it to you?"

Maggie's gaze fell and Skye knew the answer.

"Who else?"

Looking to her left trying to hide her eyes, Maggie sniffled and replied, "Patricia and Jimmy. Walkers got them. There was nothing we could do." Composing herself, she went on. "There's something you should know."

"What is it?"

"Rick, he-" Maggie stopped.

"Maggie? What is it?" Skye was beginning to get scared.

"He told us that we're all infected."

"Infected? How?" Skye sat dumbfounded.

"The scientist you guys came across told him. Said everyone is carryin' it. So no matter how you die…"

"We turn," Skye finished for her and she nodded.

"Rick also had kind of a meltdown. He said he killed Shane. Said he had no choice. But now… he's changed. He seems cold. Said that if we stay with him it's no longer a democracy."

Skye didn't believe what she was hearing. She had missed so much. Shane is dead, Rick killed him, everyone's infected, Andrea is missing, and then some. Her head was reeling.

"Maybe he just needs some time. I mean, he killed his best friend. That had to mess with his head." Bringing a hand to her head she groaned, "Speaking of which… my head is throbbing something awful."

"You're dehydrated. Here," Maggie said, handing her a glass of water.

Skye took it from her and downed the whole glass. "That water is delicious."

"Daryl and I went back and got one of those jugs from the water truck on the highway."

"But weren't there walkers?"

"Some. Not too many."

Skye watched as Maggie's eyes fell in shame. "What's wrong?"

"I made a mistake. Daryl was getting attacked and I didn't think. I shot the walker. I'm sure we have a whole herd heading this way as we speak."

"I'm sure you had to. Don't beat yourself up over it," Skye smiled at her friend, trying to cheer her up. "I appreciate you guys going for it. Feel like I could drink the whole thing right now."

Maggie chuckled, feeling a little better as she refilled the glass and handed it back to Skye. Watching her as she enjoyed the water, she paused before saying, "He was really worried, ya know?"

Skye lowered the glass, holding it in her lap, eyes fixed on Maggie.

"Daryl. Whenever my dad needed his help to take care of you, he didn't hesitate. He may not have said how worried he was, but we could all tell. He's actually the one who caught you as you fell after you found us."

Skye sat not knowing what to say. She was anxious to see him and she knew she owed him a huge thank you.

* * *

Maggie had given Skye some clothes to change into before heading downstairs. She now wore a pair of black tight fitting jeans, a red tank top and her boots. Still feeling physically exhausted, she plopped down onto the couch in the living room while the others were off setting up their sleeping areas. The front door opened and boots could be heard scraping against the wooden floor. Rick came into view as he stopped in front of the stairs before turning his head to face Skye. He was clearly shocked to see her sitting there.

"Skye?"

She shot him a weak smile.

"You feelin' better?"

She shrugged. "Tired. Head is killing me, but I'm not gonna complain. Just happy to be here."

He smiled back at her. "We're all happy you are." With a sly smile he turned and headed upstairs and there stood Daryl, who had been hidden behind Rick the whole time. He just stared back at her.

They just sat there staring at each other for a minute before saying in his raspy voice, "Welcome back." Then he followed Rick up the stairs, leaving her there saddened that he disappeared so quickly.

* * *

"You'll have to take it easy for a day or so. Don't want to be passin' out while out on the highway or something." Hershel sat next to her on the bed, handing her yet another glass of water.

"You know," she said, taking a sip. "You all should have some of this water, too. It's not fair that I'm the only one getting to enjoy it."

He laughed. "Well, get what you need. Then we'll talk."

There was a knock at the door before it opened. Skye turned and saw Daryl standing there looking between her and Hershel. Hershel pushed himself up from the bed, smiling at Daryl before leaving them alone. Skye was actually surprised to see Daryl come around the bed and sit next to her without her having to tell him to.

"I, uh- have something for you."

Her eyebrows raised, surprised yet again.

His hand darted back to his back pocket, and handing her the object he had found just a few hours earlier. Skye found herself looking down at a beautiful knife with intricate inlaid vine patterns wrapping themselves up the handle to the blade.

"It's beautiful!" She shifted it in her hands, admiring all the wonderful designs.

"Figured you could use it."

"It's great! Thank you," she smiled over at him.

"And this," he said while pulling something from the pocket in his vest. With his other hand he grabbed one of hers and placed his that was holding the mysterious item over it, letting the object land in her palm. The touch of Daryl's skin against hers sent electricity all through her body. The object felt so familiar, and when he removed his hand a smile spread across her face. There in her hand was her sister's pendant.

"It fell out of your pocket when Maggie removed your clothes. Held on to it for you."

A warm feeling spread through her at the thought of Daryl caring enough to make sure this precious necklace wasn't lost. Then another feeling took over. Thinking back to what he had said, she realized he had been there when they undressed her and embarrassment set in.

Uncomfortable, Daryl stared down at his hands, and her smile fell.

"Daryl."

"Hmm?"

"I really want to thank you for taking care of me. Not just this time, but for everything."

Finally, he looked back up at her, head nodding ever so slightly. "It's no problem."

Before she had time to talk herself out of it, she leaned into Daryl and pressed her lips to his. Daryl didn't move. This was something he hadn't seen coming. Her soft lips felt so good on his, but were gone as quickly as they had came. She pulled back, and there they sat, mere inches apart, staring into each other's eyes.

**Hope you like! Please let me know what you think! **

**Love getting lots of feedback!**

**I know this one was short, but I thought this was a good place to end this chapter. :/**


	20. Divulge

High in the cloudless sky the sun radiated down mercilessly with the occasional relief from the breeze that wrapped around them in a cooling embrace. Leaves rustled and birds sang proudly from their wooded home as Rick and Skye patrolled the perimeter of the farmhouse they temporarily called home.

"So what's the plan? Going to lay low here as long as possible?"

Through squinted eyes, Rick looked over at her. "Not exactly. That herd could roll through here any time. Best if we move on."

"Where to?"

"Don't know. Maybe look over by Greensboro. Not in the city itself, of course, but around it there could be some supplies if we have any luck."

Nodding in agreement, she returned the gaze of her leader, knowing full well that it wouldn't be best to argue with him right now. Instead she said, "Shame I lost my guns back at the farm."

She looked sorrowfully at the ground. Those guns had meant so much to her. How could she have not fought harder to get them from the bag, knowing that they may not even last the night? Other than the pendant, it was the last thing she had that tied back to her family. Only these weren't from her sister, but from her brother.

Both walked not saying a word, taking in their surrounding with watchful eyes, making sure not to miss any signs of walkers. Stealing a glance over at Rick, she saw hints of a battle that he had been fighting within himself, the struggle evident as his mind was elsewhere.

"Rick?"

"Yeah?"

"You alright?"

"Just fine," he lied. "Why you ask?"

Careful with how she went forward, she softly said, "I heard about Shane, what you had to do. Also, about us all being infected and I noticed you've been keeping your space from Lori."

He said nothing.

"I'm just worried about you. That's all. Don't want you to feel alone. That's the last thing anyone should be having to feel in this world."

He looked over at her, his expression contemplative. Looking away he finally spoke up. "I can't get myself to look at her without blame. It's not something I want, but yet-" he paused, shaking his head. His steps ceased and his hands rested on his hips, eyes falling to the grass. Barely raising his gaze to her, he said, "I blame her, Skye."

Placing her hand gently on his shoulder, she gave him a look of sympathy. "It's okay. It'll take time. Don't let it change you. We all look up to you. That hasn't changed."

"They don't look up to me. They say they could do better on their own."

"And yet they're still here." Skye shot him a look, making her point. "They were scared. Maybe they need someone to blame. I don't know."

Rick chewed on his cheek and looked out through the trees, before nodding and bringing his gaze back to her face. As she flashed him a bright smile they heard someone approaching.

"Rick. My dad wants to talk to you. It's about Lori." Maggie crossed the yard and stopped in front of them.

"Alright." Hitting Skye gently on the arm, a small smile played across his lips. "Thanks."

Maggie now stood in his place as he strode up to the house.

"Daddy also sent me to check on you."

"I'm fine. Thank you."

The two women fell into step and continued on the patrol of the area. "I did notice that Daryl didn't stay with you in your room last night." Maggie watched her face, attempting to read her expression.

Skye thought back to the night before. She had done something she had never thought she'd have the guts to do; she had kissed Daryl Dixon. Afterwards, he had rushed out and even though she insisted she could share her bed, he refused and said he had to help Carol with something.

"Don't tell anyone else, okay?"

Maggie's head bobbed up and down furiously, obvious she was intrigued and desperate for some girl talk.

"I kissed him," Skye shot out, and a quick high-pitched scream escaped Maggie's lips, but was quickly stifled by her hand slapping down on her mouth.

"What'd he do?"

"Nothing, actually."

"He even kiss you back?" she asked, her voice eager.

"Yes…no… I don't know!" Throwing her hands into the air out of frustration, Skye said, "It all happened so fast!"

"I'm guessing he just felt uncomfortable. I mean, he's Daryl for Christ sake! He always seemed like the type who preferred to be off on the outskirts all by his self. Probably doesn't know how to handle it."

"Maybe. I mean, probably. I pretty much threw myself on him."

"I'm sure that's an exaggeration," Maggie shot her a look.

She hadn't meant to make him feel uncomfortable, not at all. If anything, she wanted him to feel completely at ease around her. She thought after everything they'd been through that he would've at least stayed. All she wanted to do was show her gratitude. That's all it was, pre gratitude. Wasn't it?

* * *

Wind whipped through Skye's wavy locks around her face as they sped down the pavement. Rick had found a very nice steely grey truck, in the back of which she now rode in. With one leg propped up and an arm resting on the side of the truck, she just sat back and enjoyed the ride and fresh air, which was very hard to come by nowadays. Rick was in the cab with Carl at his side, staring out the open window as the constant line of trees flew by in a blur. Skye had thought she would be on the bck of Daryl's bike, but instead Carol now occupied the spot, arms wrapped around Daryl. When Skye had exited the farmhouse ready to leave, she saw Carol sitting on the motorcycle with a huge smile spreading across her features. Skye couldn't help but think to herself that Carol wasn't that happy just because she got to ride on a bike, but she hurried to push the thoughts from her mind. Daryl probably just didn't want Skye to jump on out of fear that she may try to plant another kiss on him again or just want to talk about it.

Earlier that morning, Rick had called a group meeting to discuss his plans for their journey. Throughout his whole talk about the risk of staying, Daryl didn't once let his eyes stray over to Skye. But instead had Carol whispering things in his ear to which he would give a disapproving shake of his head. Skye had no doubt that she was whispering negative things about Rick's leadership, but she apparently didn't have the guts to say them herself. In fact, no one stood up to Rick. After they all had packed up, they were off, not one of them knowing what they would find.

The passing trees suddenly changed to small shops as they entered into a small town. Feeling the truck slow to a stop, Skye leapt from the bed and jogged over to meet with the others, where Rick stood with one hand on his gun.

"Alright, let's split up and search the area for anything useful. T-Dog, you and Carol head over in that direction," he pointed over towards an old gas station. "See what you can find in the station. Maybe we'll have some luck. Glenn, Maggie. You guys check the area by the pharmacy. Skye and Daryl, the bar. And Carl," he placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "You're with me." Looking to Hershel, he said, "You stay with Lori and Beth. Holler if you see anything."

Hershel gave a curt nod and went to his post. Looking sheepishly over at Daryl, Skye noticed he just stood chewing on his cheek, deep in thought. It didn't look like he was too happy about his pairing.

"In and out, okay? This isn't a place to stop for very long. Meet back in about twenty. Bring anything you find, we'll find room for it. And be thorough. Can't afford to miss anything."

All heading their separate directions, they scurried off to start on their task. It was a small town, one really just meant for people who are passing through while on the road. A nice place to fill up, gas and stomach, or stay the night to rest up, but not much else. Skye's boots clacked on the street as she tried her best to keep up with Daryl, but he wasn't even acknowledging her presence. Hanging above the bar entrance was a rusted sign that read Finnegan's surrounded by Celtic knot decorations. It was beautiful. They stepped up onto the porch and Daryl held up his hand, signaling her to stop. Crossbow at the ready, he pushed the door open and peered inside. Nothing. Entering, he crossed the room to check the storeroom. Skye followed behind him, but stopped by the bar. When Daryl emerged again, he saw her standing there, her demeanor somber. But her eyes met his and in an instant sober had been replaced with determination.

"Daryl, I'm sorry."

He went to speak but she held a hand up, stopping him.

"Don't. Just let me-" she sighed. "I just- I shouldn't have kissed you last night," she burst out.

His eyes narrowed, watching her.

"My emotions overtook me. I was just so grateful and happy to have been able to make it back to the group. Out there I didn't even think I would make it alive. It's a miracle that I even got to the camp, even though I'm still not sure how I did. Maybe it was the fire, I don't know. I don't remember. What I do know is," she paused, looking him hard in the eye. "When I saw you standing there behind Rick, I was so happy. I could barely contain myself and I think that came out that night. I still don't even know what that means or what I'm going to do about it. But I shouldn't have put you in that position. And I'm sorry," she shrugged, fighting back tears that threatened to spill over. She didn't even know why she was feeling like she was going to cry. Maybe it was rush of putting these thoughts out there or maybe it was not knowing what he would say and fearing he may laugh in her face. But the whole time she spoke he stepped closer and closer to her, head tilted and eyes boring into hers, hanging on every word.

"If you want me to stay away from you, I get it. I do."

"That what you think? That I would want you to stay away?" His words had her at a loss, not knowing what to expect and leaving her feeling ashamed. "Why would you even think that? Especially after what I told you back at the farm. It killed me not knowing if you would wake up. I may not be one for talkin' 'bout my feeling but that don't mean I don't have any."

Her breath caught in her chest, not able to look away from him. Before she knew it his lips were crashing down onto hers and she felt his hand wrap around the back of her neck, pulling her closer. The intensity of their kiss had taken her by surprise, causing her to go weak in the knees. If it hadn't been for a strong arm snaking around her waist, she probably would have fallen to the floor. One hand cupped his face while the other ran up the muscles of his bicep, feeling the muscles move as he held onto her. He bit gently at her bottom lip, and she parted her lips, allowing his tongue entry. Knocking over barstools, he pushed her back towards the bar, never breaking their kiss even as he lifted her up with ease sitting her on the counter. Her arms and legs wrapped around him, lost in the frenzy and not wanting to let go. She could feel his hand on her thigh, sending waves of electricity through her as his other hand had hold of her hair.

Glass shattered behind Daryl at the entrance, breaking them from their desire. He held a hand up telling her to stay put as he slowly crept over towards the entrance. Reaching the door he saw what had caused the sound. It was a bar glass. Spinning around he drew his weapon. Pointing it at the man who now had Skye wrapped in a chokehold with a knife to her neck, who gave Daryl a toothy grin and said, "Well, wasn't that just touching."

**Trying to get back in the groove! **** Also having to really plan out this next season because I have a lot planned and I want to make sure I don't have any loose ends and it's all organized. Don't want to be confusing myself, now do I? lol Lovin' the reviews! Absolutely love hearing what you guys think about the way Skye is being worked into the Walking Dead world and hearing if there's something you think isn't working too well. Seeing how this is my first fanfic I am constantly striving to improve! :D Much love!**


	21. Seized

"Set the bow down, boy.

Daryl snarled back at the man who stood with one arm wrapped around Skye's chest and another holding a knife to her slender neck. Not lowering his bow in the slightest he said, "Not a chance."

"I'll kill 'er. I swear I will. Slice her pretty neck right open."

The look in the man's eyes told Daryl there was no joke about what he was saying. Skye felt the knife press into her neck, threatening to beak the skin. She could feel herself begin to tremble and even more so as she watched Daryl set his crossbow down on the table in front of him.

Raising his hands up, Daryl took a step back, all the while glaring daggers across the room at the man.

"What do ya want?"

"I want ya to back out slowly. If you so much as peek a head in... I'll end 'er." His grip on Skye tightened making her wince before her eyes found Daryl's. He took slow steps backwards, hands still in the air, with eyes fixed on her making a silent promise – he would get her out safely. Suddenly she wasn't quite as afraid. She knew deep down that he would do everything in his power to keep that promise while at the same time making this man pay.

Once Daryl was out the door, one swift motion spun her around bringing her face to face with her captor. He was a lot younger than she expected. She had been guessing maybe sixty, judging by his voice, but he couldn't have been older than mid-forties. His face was bearded over with scraggly chestnut hair hanging down into his crazed eyes. These were eyes that had felt the weight of this new world, a weight he had to face alone. This was something that could drive anyone mad, and who knew what he would be willing to do. His look was topped off with a smile lacking almost all his teeth from which breath that rivaled even the dead flowed as he spoke.

"Any weapons on ya, girlie? I suggest you rid yourself of 'em now if ya do."

Skye reached down and pulled her pistol along with the machete up and threw them onto the counter with a clang. He gave her a satisfied grunt before turning away to grab a drink. Little did he know there was something she left out. Turning back to her he held out a glass for her to take, brown liquid sloshing around inside. Hesitantly, she wrapped her fingers around it bringing it to her nose. The scent burned her nostrils, but she threw it back anyway, scrunching up her nose as she felt the burn go all the way down to her empty stomach.

The man slammed his own glass down onto the bar, startling her, licking his lips and shaking his head before wiping away little droplets of alcohol that clung to his beard. Shivers ran up her spine as his beady eyes glanced sideways up at her.

* * *

"Rick!"

Daryl's boots kicked up dirt as he sprinted to where Rick and Carl were searching some cars that sat abandoned on Main Street. Hearing Daryl's urgent tone Rick sprung from the vehicle and marched toward his comrade.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Daryl slowed down and now paced back and forth in front of Rick. Carl hurried over and came to a quick halt behind his father, noticing that Skye was not with Daryl.

"Where's Skye?" The small boy's question hit Daryl hard making guilt wash through him.

"Some asshole in the bar. That bastard jumped her. Must've been hiding behind the damn bar. He better not touch one hair on her head. If see one scratch on her I swear I'm gonna –"

"Calm down, Daryl We're gonna get her out," Rick attempted to calm Daryl, who continued to pace frantically. "I'll just go talk to him."

"Can't. Said if we try to get in he'll kill 'er."

Worry flooded Rick's face as he struggled to think of how to handle the situation. "Let's find the others."

* * *

"You guys came to the wrong town. See, I've been alone in this place for nearly four months. That is, until you folks come barreling in," he let out a chuckle that set her teeth on edge.

"What happened to everyone? There were no survivors at all?" Skye decided she would try to keep this man talking, then maybe, just maybe, the others could find a way to get her out.

"The plague or whatever this shit is, it took most of 'em. My brothers, sister, friends… all of 'em. Others fled town till all that was left was me and four other guys. We holed up in the pharmacy across town, but those fuckers got in." His head shook, remembering the past as if it had just happened. "They took Bubba right next to me. If we had been standing just a bit further to the left I coulda saved him. I just know it. But I didn't. All that was left after that was me and Thomas."

Stopping there he walked around the bar to where Daryl's crossbow remained. As his fingertips grazed the cool metal of the bow Skye pushed on.

"And Thomas? What happened to him?"

"Well I killed him," his face was stone cold. There was no remorse, nothing. If he was willing to kill one of his own, he would have no trouble killing her or the others.

"Why?"

"We were tryin' to take this bar, but every time we tried to leave there were some of those creeps outside. So I took my hatchet and drove it into his leg and pushed him outside. While they were busy with him, I snuck off here, barricadin' myself upstairs. Eventually they all moved on, left town. Finally decided to come on out and see if there was any more alcohol and what do I hear? Cars approachin'. It got really lonely after killin' Thomas. But now…" his eye burned into hers. "Now I have someone to keep me company."

"So you aren't going to kill me?" her voice was full of hope.

"As long as those fools outside don't try anything funny and just go along their way, then no I won't be killin' ya."

"And let's say for a second that they do move on and I am left here with you," she swallowed hard, trying not to reveal how scared she truly was. "What if I don't wanna stay? I try to leave."

"Let's just say you don't wanna be doin' that." He shot her a wicked grin and she knew he would most definitely kill her then… or worse. "I know that redneck just showed you a little lovin' but I wouldn't count on him comin' back. Although," he held up the crossbow. "He probably would come back for this."

She knew he was trying to get under her skin, trying to make her feel all hope was lost, but she knew better. She just stayed sitting on the bar, not saying a word.

"Thought he would've tried somethin' by now if he really wanted to save you." Crossing the room to her he traced a finger down her jaw line. "Maybe he has someone else. Maybe someone worth protecting more than you. Is there another woman in the group?"

Skye's jaw clenched as Carol's face popped into her mind, but still she said nothing at all. His grin grew, as he let out a low laugh.

"See, he won't be coming for you. He's left you for me. It's been a long, long time since a woman has been in this town that hasn't tried to eat me." Pushing her hair back from her neck he leaned in, taking in her scent before running his tongue up her neck, making her skin crawl in disgust. Jerking her knee upward she hit him in the chest, knocking him backward. He growled and a sharp pain filled her left cheek as his hand smacked across her face. She fell from the bar, landing hard at his feet.

"Stupid bitch!"

Regaining her composure, she flipped her hair back and looked up at him as he towered over her.

"You're going to regret that!"

* * *

"Is there a back door?"

Glenn stood, shotgun in hand, looking between Rick and Daryl. At his right Maggie kept shifting in place at the thought of her friend in danger just inside the building in front of them. They couldn't see through the windows seeing as how they were all boarded up. Having been discussing this for the past fifteen minutes, they were finding they were running out of ideas.

"Nah. He'd hear you before you could even make it to them," Daryl pointed out.

"How'd this happen? How did you not notice someone in there?" Carol shot from their right, giving Daryl a questioning look.

"It doesn't matter," Rick stated, hooking a thumb into the front pocket of his jeans. "All that matters right now is getting her out.

"Should we even risk it?"

Everyone's eyes went to Carol, who dropped her eyes avoiding their gaze.

"I just mean, what if someone gets hurt in the process? Or killed?"

Daryl stepped over towards her. "How could you even suggest that? Leavin' someone behind like that?"

"She's one of us. There's no leavin' her behind. I'd die tryin' to save one of us! So no more talk of leavin' anyone behind, alright," Rick defended.

Daryl looked down at the woman before him, shocked that she even said the words. Shaking his head in disappointment, he spun on his heels returning to his place beside Rick.

"Something happen, Rick?"

They turned to see Hershel stepping up next to them.

"Saw ya'll standing here from the vehicles." Hershel scanned the group. "Where's Skye?"

"Inside. There was a man. He took her hostage," Rick filled him in.

"Shouldn't you go talk to him?"

"Not an option. He'll kill her."

Hershel gazed over at Daryl, whose eyes weren't leaving the bar door. With a sigh, Hershel asked, "Any ideas yet?"

"Had some, but none seem as if they'd work out in our favor."

"Is there a way to get to the second floor? Maybe sneak downstairs." Hershel pointed at he awning above the door.

"You think that could work? Did you see a staircase inside?" Rick looked to Daryl for an answer.

"I saw one. It was in the storeroom. Door to that is right next to the bar. You guys don't seem to be listenin'," Daryl fired, aggravated. "Every step you make in there makes the floorboards creak. No one's gettin' in there without him knowin' it."

Lori and Beth came running over to the group, stopping behind Rick.

"Rick?"

"Go back to the car, Lori," Rick demanded, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"Just tell me what's going on!"

"We're taking care of it. Now go back to-"

All of their attention was drawn to the bar as the sound of crashing came from inside. Without even thinking Daryl rushed forth, ignoring Rick as he shouted in protest.

"Daryl! No! Wait!"

Slamming through the door, what he found was something he hadn't expected. His chest heaved and his heart threatened to burst from his chest as he stared over at Skye, who stood leaning against the bar trying to regain her breath. Rick appeared at the door next to Daryl, both their eyes falling to her feet where the man lied dead. Her eyes never left the body before her. Something in her hand caught Daryl's attention. It was the knife he had given her, only now it was gleaming red from the blood that covered the blade and splattered up her hand. Careful not to approach too quickly, Daryl watched her as he stepped closer.

"Skye?" Daryl whispered, but she didn't move.

Eyes still glued to the man she said, "I had to."

His eyes searched her for any signs of harm, but found none other than a slight pink handprint on her cheek, but it was fading quickly. "Give me the knife."

Her eyes finally met his then looked down to the knife she clutched on to. Gently she let it fall from her fingertips into his waiting hand. Swallowing the lump in his throat he was about to lean down to press his lips to hers, but stopped as he remembered Rick standing in the doorway.

Clearing his throat he said, "We should probably head out."

"Not yet," Rick stated. "We should check upstairs. If he's been survivin' here he may have some supplies we can scavenge. Rick pushed past them and headed over to the storage room. Once he was gone, Daryl saw his opportunity, but as he leaned in Skye head her hand up, stopping him.

"What?"

"What was that?"

"What are you talkin' 'bout?" Daryl asked dumbfounded.

"You have to wait till he's gone to kiss me?"

"Skye…"

"Why don't you want them to know?"

"It's none of their damn business."

Skye just stared back at him, not convinced.

Uncomfortable under her stare, Daryl threw a hand up. "Aw hell. I don't need this right now, Skye."

"Do you care for me, Daryl? If so, why are you so ashamed to let them see it?"

He knew she was right. His feelings embarrassed him, even though he knew they shouldn't. Truth was that he didn't want them to see him like this, but as they had been this whole time. He wanted to be that hardass redneck his brother had pushed him to be. Merle. If only he could see Daryl, he scoffed in his head. He would probably tell him to man up, not to show his soft side, to care only about Merle and himself. He could hear it now. _Darleena, stop letting this girl get into your head. Just you and me, baby brother. Don't let anything change that._

**Getting ready to start season 3! I think I've got everything pretty well planned out so the updates should be coming a lot quicker than they have been. But not too quick, I don't wanna rush it. We have awhile until season four! D: Much love!**


	22. Advancement

So much time had passed since the incident at the bar. The group had been darting from house to house trying to steer clear of the herds that closed in around them. As Lori's pregnancy progressed and food was becoming even harder to come by, their hope diminished and was replaced by a fear that they wouldn't survive much longer. To make matters worse, a tension hung between Skye and Daryl, leftover from their argument at the bar. Few words had been exchanged between the two of them since. The tension ate away at Skye as questions beat through her mind, constantly questioning Daryl's true feelings for her. He had made it seem like he wanted to be with her, but apparently not enough to make it known to the group. Why be so determined to make people view you as a ruthless survivor who doesn't care for anyone? What is the point of surviving if you fear love itself when that should make life worth living? And of course, Skye just loved the fact that Carol was even more up Daryl's ass. That irked Skye more than anything really. Rick would shoot Skye a look of sympathy on occasion, knowing full well what was going on between his two comrades. As an attempt to keep her mind from obsessing too much, Skye stuck close to Glenn and Maggie, helping the group as they searched for a more permanent location. Somewhere safe. Somewhere they could call home.

* * *

Stepping into the abandoned house that was the next on their search list, Skye stepped over a corpse lying in the middle of the floor with a gaping hole in its head. Rick, Daryl, Carl, and T-Dog had cleared the house while Skye cleared the perimeter with Glenn and Maggie, who stepped in behind her. Her eyes scanned the walls of chipping paint as she moved towards the living room. Standing before the fireplace mantle, her fingers traced over smiling faces of the frames sitting there, barely noticing Daryl enter the room holding an owl. Turning, she saw him plop down into an armchair and begin working at removing the feathers. Watching them fall softly to the wooden floorboards, she sat gently down on the sofa, not even bothering to wipe the dried leaves from the cushions. After a quick whistle from Rick at the door, the others began piling in, arms full of the groups belongings. Soon a circle had formed around the room, not one person saying a word. Hunger overwhelmed them, and it was all they could think about. Carl entered the room and all eyes went to him, noticing he was carrying familiar cylindrical objects. The sound of cans being set on the floor echoed in the room as Carl pulled a can opener from his backpack. The young boy worked away at the cans and as they spun around Skye caught a glimpse of a picture of a dog on the label, making her stomach drop. Rick's attention turned to his boy and crossing the room he knelt down snatching up the canine's delight. Twisting around his hand, a grimace crossed his face before he hurled the can, sending it flying into the back of the fireplace, making Daryl jump. Skye felt terrible as she watched Carl's face fall in defeat, but she understood. Rick didn't want his group to have to stoop to dog food, especially some that contained meat past it's expiration date. She did what she could to avert her gaze from their leader as he stood uncomfortably in the middle of the group. But that was soon forgotten as they heard T-Dog signaling that there was trouble. Everyone jumped up, snatching up their things and heading for the back door. Skye grabbed the axe she had found outside and followed the group with only Rick behind her. Reaching the Hyundai, she jumped in, joining Glenn and Maggie. As quick as they had came, they were gone.

* * *

"We've got no place left to go." T-dog unrolled the map onto the hood of the Hyundai while they crowded around. Carol, Beth and Carol stood watch.

Maggie leaned over the map, "When this herd meets up with us we'll be cut off. We'll never make it south."

"Whaddya say it's about a hundred and fifty head?" Daryl rested his elbows on the vehicle.

"That was last week," Glenn shook his head. "Could be twice that by now."

"Don't you think that river we passed could've slowed them down?" Skye looked to the group as Carol walked up, stopping next to her. Swallowing her irritation with the woman, she kept her focus on the discussion.

"But we have this one coming from this direction," T-Dog waved a hand over the map.

"So we're blocked," Maggie stated.

"Not necessarily. We could swing back to 23 and head back around Greensboro." Rick ran hand through his hair, frustrated.

"You see, we've been through that already. Spent all winter goin' round in circles," T-Dog shook his head.

"Yeah, I know," Rick nodded. "At Noone we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet." Looking past the group to where Lori sat resting in the truck, he continued, "We can't keep goin' house to house. Need to find someplace we can hold up for a few weeks."

"Fine. Well, let us take a few minutes to run down to the creek to get some water." T-Dog jutted a hand back in the direction to the woods, and with a nod from Rick the group headed off, leaving Skye behind with Daryl and Rick.

Looking to Rick, Daryl suggested, "While the others are off washing their panties, why don't you and I go hunt?" Lifting his crossbow up, Daryl let his eyes fall to Skye just briefly before walking past her to towards the woods.

After watching the two men disappear into the woods, Skye spun on her heels, heading back to the truck. Resting a hand at the top of the car door, Skye leaned on it, gazing into the forest.

"Looks like we'll be moving on here soon."

"Have a new plan yet?"

Letting out a sigh, Skye answered, "Not yet. Basically the same. Just added a new turn.

Lori just nodded and continued to stare aimlessly into the distance.

"He'll find a place, Lori. He will. For you."

"He hates me."

"That's not true."

Lori let her head roll to the side to face Skye, giving her a knowing look. "He talks to you. I know he does. I'm sure he told you how he truly feels about me now."

Eyes falling, Skye shook her head. "He doesn't hate you. That is something he has not said to me. Ever." She paused. "I think you guys just need some space. Then maybe a talk. Might be a good idea to do that before the baby is here. You know-"

"Just promise me something, Skye," Lori cut her off, eyes boring into Skye's. "Promise me that if something happens to me-"

"Lori-"

"No, listen. If something happens, take care of him. Make sure he's alright and can be there for Carl."

Skye rubbed her hand across her face, then looked to Lori giving her a nod in agreement.

"Lori! Skye!"

Rick was walking hurriedly over to them. "We need to get the others."

He pushed past them and headed towards the creek.

Spinning around towards him Skye asked, "Why? What's wrong?"

Not slowing up at all, he shouted over his shoulder, "I found something."

* * *

Shutting the car door behind her, Skye joined the rest of the group at the front of the caravan, staring out into the vast space before them. Rick had brought them to the front gate of a rather large prison. From where Skye stood, she couldn't see any sign that the fencing had been compromised and even if it had, there was a second fencing just beyond that. There was so much space on the other side. The only problem was numerous zombies dressed in prison guard and inmate apparel lumbered about the prison yard. Rattling of the fence brought Skye's attention to her left where Rick knelt down with a pair of wire cutters creating an entrance for them. Daryl and Glenn held the fence open for everyone to climb inside. Putting on foot through Skye shifted around, careful not to snag herself on the sharp edges of the metal.

Daryl leading the way, they jogged around the corner, approaching the gate that would let them into the yard. Skye slowed to a stop and saw that an overturned truck blocked the entrance.

"It's perfect," Rick breathed out. "We can shut that gate. Prevent more from fillin' the yard. We can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."

Hershel stepped forward. "So how do we shut the gate?"

Swallowing hard, Skye said, "I'll do it. Just cover me."

"No, suicide run," Maggie protested.

Skye avoided looking at Daryl, knowing full well she was receiving a warning look.

"I can do this," Skye said, looking to Rick. He nodded.

To Glenn he said, "You, Maggie and Beth draw as many as you can over there." He pointed to his left. "Pop 'em through the fence." They followed to where he was pointing, readying themselves. "Daryl, go back to the other tower."

Passing Skye, Daryl looked down at her, but she refused to return his glance.

"Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel. You, Carl, take this tower." Everyone had left to take their positions so Rick placed his hands on Skye's shoulders. "You sure you wanna do this?"

She nodded. "Certainly."

"Alright then. I'll go over here and try to distract some. Take this," he held his pistol out for her to take, which she gladly did. He grabbed a hold of the fence, ready to pull it free.

Pistol ready, she gave him a nod and he pulled the gate over, letting her through. Sneaking around the truck the best she could, she kept the pistol held up. The cries from the others trying to get the walker's attention seemed far off in the distance as she focused on the enemies surrounding her. The crunching of the gravel could be felt through her boots as she jogged up the pathway towards her destination. Firing the pistol at the walkers closest to the path, she cleared the way, closing in on the gate. She heard something fall just behind her and came to a halt, turning to see a walker lying on the ground behind her with an arrow in it's head. Her eyes flew up to where Daryl was perched on the tower for a slight moment before turning back towards the gate. Gunshots bellowed around her as the others cleared the outer areas of the field. Skye slid to a halt as a shot was fired just in front of her, barely missing her. She saw that Carol now reloaded her weapon from her position. Shaking her head in annoyance, she pushed on. Her hand grasped the cold metal of the gate as she tried to slide it closed. Realizing food had arrived, the walkers on the inside began making their way for the door, attempting to get through before it closed. But she was too quick for them. Closing the last few inches she clasped the hooks down, locking it. Spinning around she came face to face with five walkers. Taking careful aim, she popped a bullet off right into its head, sending it backwards, before hurrying into the tower next to her. Closing the door she saw the only light that lit the small stairway emanated from above. Her legs pounded, screaming at her as she climber to the top. Propping herself up on the tower railings she helped the others finish the job, shooting the last one down below her. Stepping back, she fell against the wall, leaning on it to catch her breath and smiling to herself. They had done it.

**Finally! I got to update! I really had to push myself to get this one out. :/ Really want to get to all the excitement! Lol Thank you so much for your patience! It is much appreciated! RL keeps getting in the way. **


	23. Perch

After their wonderful success of taking the prison yard, Skye sat hugging her knees to herself by the fire that Glenn had conjured up while Rick circled the perimeter and Daryl kept watch. With every crack of the fire embers burst into the air, ascending until the cold night breeze snuffed them out while at the same time sending cold chills down Skye's back. Scooting in a few more inches towards the fire, Skye caught a glimpse of Lori looking up at Rick. He was passing around them yet again as he checked for ways the walkers could get in. Looking away from Rick Lori's eyes fell to Skye.

"Tomorrow we'll pull the bodies together," T-Dog spoke. "Wanna keep them away from that water. Now if we can get a canal under that fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water."

"When the soil's good we can plant some seed. Tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans…" Hershel looked up. Upon seeing where Lori and Skye had turned their gaze he added, "That's his third time 'round. If there was any part compromised, he'd of found it by now."

Skye brought her eyes to Hershel, but found Carol's face instead. She was sitting next to Hershel and all Skye could think about was how she almost shot her earlier that day. Looking away, she rested her chin on her right shoulder and off in the distance she could see the silhouette of a man on top of the overturned truck at the gate. Biting her lip, she grabbed her bowl of food and pushed up from the grass to make her way over to Daryl, Carol's eyes never leaving her. A million questions ran through her mind on the walk over, all about Daryl. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but no, she was too chicken. She fought against walkers everyday, you would think talking to a man would be the least of her troubles. Reaching the truck she couldn't help but wonder how the hell he had gotten up there. With her one free hand she latched onto the tire and attempted to lift herself up.

"Here."

She looked up to see Daryl's extended hand reaching for hers. Placing her hand in his, she was lifted up with ease. She wiped her hand on her jeans in an attempt to remove any dirt she had gotten from the tire.

"I, uh, brought you some dinner. Didn't think you were going to come get some and it was almost gone, so…" She held the bowl out to him, which he took with an appreciative nod. Turning to face the group, she slid her hands into her pockets to hide her shaking hands from his vision. This was the most they had spoken in the past couple months and she was nervous as hell.

As Daryl pieced on the remaining meat in the bowl, he kept casting sideways glances over at Skye.

"You're shakin'."

"It's cold," she replied matter-of-factly.

Daryl sat his crossbow and bowl of food down onto the truck, and Skye noticed he reached to remove his poncho.

"It's okay, Daryl. Keep it. I should be going back over anyway." She moved towards the edge of the truck.

Letting go of the top of the poncho, Daryl protested, "Wait."

Skye stopped, not looking back.

"I'm… sorry."

She didn't move.

"I never say that lightly. I didn't mean to- I just take any more of this not talkin'." Daryl waited.

Swallowing the lump in her throat and turned. "Come on. We should get back."

Daryl stared back at her and she lowered her eyes. "Alright, well, let me down first." After his descent from the top of the truck, he reached up and lifted her down. When her feet hit the ground they were standing chest to chest, making her heart beat dangerously fast. His scent enveloped her, making her want to lean into him even more and forget they had ever had any troubles at all. But instead she found herself looking away and taking a step back. Daryl grabbed his crossbow and bowl of leftover food and they returned to the fire.

As they drew closer, the sweet voice of Beth could be heard singing to the group. Rick must've had the same idea Daryl and Skye did because he arrived at the campsite the same time, kneeling down between Carl and Lori.

"…Goodnight and joy be with you all." Beth looked to her sister, who smiled before joining in.

Skye looked over to Daryl, who returned her gaze.

"…And all the sweethearts that 'ere I had, would wish me one more day to stay…."

Skye saw Rick offer Lori some of his food, which she at first rejected. He continued to hold it out to her and she gave in, taking a pinch of food from the bowl. Skye couldn't help but hope the two worked out their differences, but she didn't see that there was hope until now. He still cared for her. No matter how much he wanted to hate her, it was still there. The love. Skye smiled to herself and stared into the flames.

"…that I should rise and you should not / I'll gently rise and I'll softly call / goodnight and joy be with you all / goodnight and joy be with you all."

Daryl looked back over to Skye's face, thinking to himself about how beautiful she looked as the light from the flames danced across her face.

"Beautiful," Hershel commented on the sweet music of his daughters.

"Better all turn in," Rick's voice rasped out. "I'll take watch over there. Gotta big day tomorrow."

Glenn's head snapped up. "What d'you mean?"

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win." Rick looked to everyone. "But we gotta push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards or prisoners. Looks like the place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies are intact. They have an infirmary, commissary-"

"An armory?" Daryl asked.

"It wouldn't be in the prison itself, but not too far away. The warden's office would have info on its location. Food, medicine…this place could be a gold mine."

"We're dangerously low on ammo," Hershel pointed out. "We'd run out before we even made a dent."

"That's why we have to go in there… hand to hand."

Everyone exchanged glances of worry.

Rick continued, "After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it." Looking to Carl, he added, "These assholes don't stand a chance." Getting up, he walked off, leaving them all looking around at each other wondering what the coming events would bring.

* * *

"Ready?"

Hershel stood with his hands on the gate, ready to pull it open. Rick unlatched the chain Skye had used to lock the gate and yanked it to the side, granting them access. Right off the bat, T-Dog nails a walker in the head. They had decided that only Rick, Daryl, Skye, T-Dog, Glenn and Maggie would be going in, and that there would be no breaking rank. If anyone strayed from the group, it could be the end. Skye did her best to shuffle her way along with them from between Maggie and Daryl while holding her machete up, ready to attack.

"Daryl!" Rick hollered as a walker closed in.

Daryl jumped forward, driving his blade into the decaying flesh of the walker's skull before jumping right back into the group.

They continued to move forward as one as sounds of everyone's weapons dealing damage rang out. Skye's boot caught on the pant leg of the walkers Glenn had just taken out, but she quickly regained her composure and stepped over it. Almost to the mid way point to their destination, walkers began coming from all directions. Skye's eyes darted all around her, careful to not let any walkers catch her off guard. Two walkers in prisoner clothing came around the group at her and Maggie.

"Maggie!" Skye yelled a warning as she slammed her own machete down into the walker's head. She could hear Maggie yell out as she did the same. They moved on leaving the walker's corpses behind them.

Daryl turned around just in time to see a walker reaching for Skye. Grabbing it by the shirt, he jerked him back, making him fall back into the blade of Daryl's knife.

"Don't break rank!"

Rick's voice brought Skye's attention to T-Dog, who rushed off to the left yelling, "I'll be right back!" He grabbed an abandoned riot shield and rejoined the group, knocking a walker back with his new weapon. Maggie jumped past him to thrust her machete into the walker's head.

"Maggie! Maggie!" Rick bellowed and Maggie jumped back into the circle. "Almost there."

They shuffled just a few more feet and the sound of a door creaking opened sounded. After opening the door, Rick peeked around the corner, but quickly jumped back behind the cover of the wall. Everyone else followed suit. Skye felt the cold of the stone wall against her back and couldn't helped but shiver a bit.

Suddenly, two walkers dressed in riot gear appeared around the dumpster in front of them, stalking towards the group. Raising his crossbow, Daryl took two steps forward, preparing to fire at the heavily armed monsters. Just as he was about to shoot, two more armored walkers came around the corner mere feet away. He fired at the one on the right. To his dismay, however it merely bounced off of the front of the walker's helmet. As he took a few steps back, drawing his knife, Rick and T-Dog lunged forward. Daryl brushed past Skye, following after the other two men. Looking to her right, Skye was horrified to see an appallingly decayed walker emerging from the open door directly next to her with one trailing behind it. Sounds of gurgling god-knows-what came from behind the gas masks the walkers were wearing as the first reached out for Skye. She yelled out as shoved the walker away from her. As it stumbled back she took her chance. She began striking it in the head as hard as she could with her machete, but to no avail. Judging by the sounds of metal clashing against metal, Skye guessed the others were facing the same problem. Somehow, as Skye swung for the walker's head once more it got a hold of her arm. Luckily, it was wearing the mask, preventing it from biting her, but she still felt it crushing her arm. Daryl spun around at the sound of Skye yelling out in pain. Rushing over, he sliced through the air, cutting the walker's arm in two and shoving it back away from her. Skye threw the half of the arm that had clung to her behind her, cringing at the thought of having to touch that putrefying flesh.

"Daryl!" Rick called running towards the gate that could close of the entryway for the numerous walkers on the other side.

Skye quickly returned her attention to the now one-armed walker as it made another attempt at grabbing at her. It leaned down on her, threatening to overwhelm her. However, she noticed a small opening under the mask and reached up thrusting her machete up into it, killing the walker. It dropped to the ground and all eyes fell to her.

"You guys see that!?"

Everyone followed her lead and began attacking the walkers through the bottom of the masks. She turned and saw Maggie struggling with her own walker as it had her pinned against a wall. Skye jerked it back by its vest, spinning it around. Maggie pulled the mask from its face, taking the skin with it. Both girls made sounds of disgust as machete ended its life. As Maggie ran past Rick to finish the last walker in the area, Skye turned to admire their handiwork. They had taken out so many, and without any guns. It gave her a really good feeling. Smiling to herself, she headed back over to the first gate where Lori and the others waited.

"Stop," Rick commanded, surveying the prison.

"Well, it looks secure," Glenn said.

Daryl stepped up next to Rick. "Not from the look of that courtyard over there. And that's a civilian." He pointed to a dead walker lying in front of them.

"So the interior could be overrun by walkers from outside the prison," T-Dog stated.

"What if there's walls down? What are we going to do? We can't rebuild this whole place," Glenn asked.

"We can't risk a blind spot," Rick said, looking around them. Gesturing towards yet another door, Rick said, "We need to keep pushing."

* * *

Amongst the trash and torn up furniture behind the door, they found one useful item – keys. Now in front of them was a barred door with a sign above it reading 'C BLOCK'. Rick opened the door and they stepped in with caution. Two levels lined with jail cells welcomed them. Papers were scattered all around the floor, clothes hung from the railings, and deterring odor radiated from each cell. Some of the cells were occupied by dead bodies while the ones at top kept walkers locked inside. While Daryl and Rick headed up to the next level, Skye checked the bottom level cells with Maggie. Skye peeked into the one at the end and found half of a prisoner lying in the center of the cell floor. She jumped as a corpse landed with a squish behind her.

"Sorry," Rick called from above. "All's clear up here." He descended the staircase and crossed the room to where Skye stood with Maggie, Glenn and T-Dog approaching. "This is it."

"This is what?" Glenn looked from Rick to Daryl to Maggie.

"This is where were we hold up," Rick answered. "We can lock that door from the inside. We each have our own bed."

"Yeah, just a quick cleaning up and it's home sweet home," Skye smiled to Rick, happy over their new living quarters. She couldn't wait to sleep on a mattress, no matter how dirty or crappy the mattress itself was.

"Maggie. Glenn. Go ahead and get the others."

Glenn placed a hand on Maggie's back and they headed out. Rick headed back up the stairs and Skye followed.

"This should be a good place to have the baby. Really lucked out."

Rick cocked his head at her. "You really think so?"

"I do."

Looking out the window, Rick nodded. "Hope it's enough."

"You mean for Lori? You think she won't like it."

"Who knows, Skye. Feels like she's always shootin' me down. Always wants me to do what's best for her and no matter what I do –" He shook his head, cutting himself short.

"She's going to like it, Rick. Not like she can be too picky and at least here you have access to an infirmary, ya know?"

"So how about you and Daryl? How are things?"

She knew he was trying to change the subject, causing her lips to press into a thin line before responding. "There's been progress. He told me he was sorry."

Rick gave her a look with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," she chuckled. "I know. We'll see what happens next. Unless he's willing to take a risk at losing his no-emotion-bad-boy reputation it'll never work."

"This world. It's tough."

"Something tells me it would've been the same situation with us even if the outbreak never happened."

Rick sighed. "True. As for me and Lori, it's not like things were spectacular before my accident. Fighting constantly… not much has changed."

Their conversation was brought to an end by the door being pushed opened bringing the rest of the group into their new home. Rick clapped a hand down onto Skye's shoulder and walked past her, down the stairs.

"What do ya think?"

Glenn headed for a cell. "Home sweet home."

"For the time being."

"It's secure," Lori asked, eyes scanning the room.

"This cell block is."

Skye leaned on the railing, looking down at the group, waiting for Lori to say something negative. Instead, Hershel spoke up.

"What about the rest of the prison?"

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and the infirmary."

"We sleep in the cells?" Beth questioned fidgeting with the strap of her bag.

"Found keys on some guards. Daryl has a set, too."

"I ain't sleepin' in no cage," Daryl growled, his eyes flying up to where Skye leaned. "I'll take the perch." As he made his way up the stairs to where she stood, Rick's eyes met hers, giving her a knowing glance. Skye couldn't help but notice the stink eye Carol shot at her before turning to Lori to find their own cell.

Everyone went to work at getting settled in their own cells and Daryl sat watching as Skye snatched up her bag, peering into the variety of cells lining the second floor. Sitting with his forearms resting on his knees, he let his head fall, giving in to himself.

"Skye."

"Hmm," she looked over her shoulder.

"Wanna stay out here with me?"

She turned to fully face him, an incredulous look playing across her face.

"Don't wanna sleep in someone's old jail cell, do ya?"

"Not really, but it's a step up from the storage shed we were in before."

"Here." He jumped up and searched the cells for the cleanest mattress he could find, pulling it out to lay it next to his. Standing back to check out his handiwork, he placed his hands on his hips. "There."

Smiling at him, she said, "Thanks."

They both plopped down onto their mattresses, ecstatic to be able to rest at ease for once.

"Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, it may be nothing, but earlier today when I was running for the gate Carol almost shot me."

"It was probably jus' an accident. Wouldn't worry 'bout it."

"It's just I've seen her hit some rather small targets while we were on the run. Almost hitting me… that was some pretty bad aiming."

"So what, you think she tried to kill you?"

"No… I don't know what I'm sayin'. Just thought it was strange."

"Like I said, don't worry 'bout it. Let's get some rest. Got a big day tomorrow." He rolled onto his side away from her.

With a sigh, Skye leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. Tomorrow would be a big day. Looking for the infirmary, cafeteria, and of course, asking Carol about trying to shoot her. What a fun day ahead.

**Love the reviews, guys! I do want to clear something up, though. Someone said they weren't sure about a Rick/Skye romance because of what Lori said. That is not what was meant by that. **** When she asked Skye to look after Rick, it was more because Lori knows Rick goes to Skye for advice and values her opinion as a friend. So no Rick romance. Sorry to those who were wanting that, but no. lol. I have never been a Carol fan. For some reason, she just irks me. Lol Ciao, guys! :P**


	24. Severance

"Not bad."

Daryl switched the flashlight on and off before setting it down onto the table with their other findings.

"Yeah. Looks like we got a good amount of stuff here," Skye smiled.

"It's a start." Rick picked a flashbang up, rolling it around in his hand. "We should find a lot more when we push into the prison." His eyes moved from the weapon to Skye's face.

Flashing a smile back at him and clicking a flashlight on and off, she said, "I'm sure we will."

"Flashbangs, CS Triple Chasers… Not sure how they work on walkers, but we'll take 'em."

Skye cringed as she watched a foul smelling brown goo pour out from the helmet Daryl held into the air.

"I ain't wearin' this shit," he said, staring at the helmet with utter disgust.

"We could boil 'em," T-Dog offered, examining his own goo-filled glove. Skye cover her nose and mouth, shaking her head in disagreement.

"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest. No way. Besides, we made it this far without 'em," Daryl protested, swinging one of the officer batons they had found.

"Hershel."

Everyone's attention went to the door, where Carol now stood, looking to Hershel.

"Everything alright?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, nothin' to worry about," Carol lied through her teeth before turning to leave. Skye knew she was lying and by the look on Rick's face she knew he did, too. Setting the flashlight down onto the table, she placed a calming hand on his shoulder and followed after Carol.

It wasn't long before she had caught up to her and Hershel and she called out, "Carol?"

The two turned to face her, curiosity plastered on their faces.

"Can I talk to you a sec?" Smiling at Hershel, she waved to him as he nodded and continued on to Lori. Carol slowly stepped closer to Skye, crossing her arms.

"What's up, Skye?"

"Hey, I just wanted to ask you about yesterday, well, and other days, too, really…" Skye never took her eyes off of Carol's face, even when she looked away. "I noticed you've been acting strange around me. Just wanted to know if I did something to offend you."

Carol just shifted uncomfortably in place, not answering.

Skye's lips pressed into a thin line. "All the staring, dirty looks…" Skye said this, shaking her head, in hopes that Carol would speak up, but still no response. "Nothin'? Really?"

Carol just continued to stare past her, at the walls, behind them… everywhere but Skye's questioning stare.

Stepping in closer, Skye lowered her voice to a near intimidating whisper. "I know." Finally. Carol's eyes met hers. Knowing she now had her full attention, she continued. "I know you tried to shoot me yesterday."

Backing away from Carol to take in her reaction, she saw she seemed to be at a loss for words. Swallowing hard before answering, Carol fired, "Where's your proof?" Turning on her heels, she headed off to join Hershel.

Skye let herself fall against the stone wall, realizing that Carol was right, she had no proof. What did she expect Rick to say or do when she told him about Carol trying to shoot her, kill her? But she knew that it was just a matter of time before Carol tried again. Next time she would be ready. Next time she would have her proof.

The sounds of feet shuffling came from down the hall as the three men made their journey back to the cellblock. Rick patted her on the back and handed her the flashlight before walking past. She fell into step with Daryl, who leaned down whispering, "Everythin' alright?"

"Mhmm," she nodded.

Reaching the cellblock, the group that would be going out into the prison began to suit up. Not having anything to put on himself, Daryl helped Skye get into her own riot vest. His deep blue eyes kept finding their way to hers as if he had something he wanted to say. Pulling on the last strap to make sure her vest was secure, Daryl stepped back and they stood waiting for Rick as he convinced Carl to stay behind, giving him the keys.

Ready to move out, the group files out of the cellblock, heading towards their destination as they heard the clanking of the door locking behind them.

Walking through the tunnels darkness enveloped them. Even with their eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, the only hope of seeing anything ahead of them shown out from the flashlights only three of them carried. Skye did her best to stay close to Daryl, afraid that a walker would get the best of her. Every step they took, every breath, every sound echoed off of the narrow stonewalls that surrounded them. Occasionally, one could hear the shaking and spraying of Glenn's spray paint can as he marked their way back, like breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel. As the beams of light flashed around the room, Skye noted the half eaten bodies that were strewn about the jail cells.

Skye's heart leapt in her chest as everyone jumped at the sound of Maggie's scream. Skye spun around only to find Glenn holding onto Maggie's shoulders. Clearly she had bumped into him thinking he was a walker. Rick and Daryl took point to make sure all of the cells were clear of any of the undead. Skye stepped up closer to Daryl as he examined the last cell. Flashlight held high, Rick led the group around the next corner. Everything was clear. They moved on eyes darting around in the darkness and ears straining for any evidence of nearby walkers. Not having a flashlight to watch her step, Skye clasped her hand onto Daryl's vest, letting him lead her. As they went to round the next corner Rick started taking quick steps back, whispering frantically, "Go back! Go back!"

"Go! Go!" Daryl urged, getting the others to turn to find a way back to safety. In the struggle to keep up, Skye tripped over a walker, making her fall hard against the wall. She felt herself being jerked forward by her vest as Daryl helped her up before running ahead to lead the way. T-dog pushed Hershel ahead of him, leaving Glenn, Maggie, and Skye to bring up the rear. Glenn pushed the two girls in front of him, the three of them hurrying to catch back up. But as they rounded the corner, walkers erupted from the next hallway, cutting them off from the rest of the group.

"In here!" Glenn yelled, jerking a nearby door open.

"Here!"

Rick pulled open a door on the left and the four men stepped inside. Noticing there was an opening next to the door, Rick warned, "Kneel down!" As the others knelt, Rick peered out through the opening, watching as the remaining walkers passed by. Joining them down below, Rick whispered, "Where's Glenn, Maggie, and Skye?"

"We have to go back," Hershel insisted.

"But which way?" Daryl was full of worry over Skye's unknown whereabouts.

Shrugging, Rick raised an index finger as he reached for the door. They all got to their feet, weapons ready. Carefully, Rick pushed the door open and they stepped back out into the dank tunnels in search of their separated friends.

"Glenn?" Rick called out in a whisper.

"Maggie?" Hershel searched for his daughter, fearing the worst. Daryl knew how he felt. Skye wasn't his daughter or anything, but he was still worried as hell for her safety.

"Maggie?"

"Rick?"

"Daddy?"

Skye crept along behind Glenn and Maggie as they called out for the others. The three of them stood outside the broom closet they had taken shelter in, trying to decide on which way to go.

"How about this way?" Skye offered. "It's the way they were running before we got cut off. Maggie and Glenn both nodded and headed in the direction she had suggested.

Walking backwards behind them, she watched the rear. Only one of them had a flashlight, so it was even harder than before to see where they were going. Skye just wished she could find their way back to the group, to Daryl. "Daryl?"

A piercing scream echoed throughout the halls, and the three of them bolted in its direction. Flying around the corner, they found Hershel lying on the concrete floor.

"No! Daddy!" Maggie cried.

Skye's hand flew to her mouth when she saw the blood soaking his pant leg. Glenn and Rick rushed over and each snaked an arm under Hershel's, lifting him up.

"Daryl!" Rick yelled.

Skye looked behind them and saw another group of walkers coming up behind them, blocking their path back to Cellblock C. "Walkers!" She warned, pointing behind Daryl.

Aiming down his sights at the horde, he took the fastest one out with an arrow shot to the head. Turning Hershel back around, they had to go back the way Maggie, Glenn, and Skye had come. Running ahead, Skye tried her best to find some salvation, and ended up coming to two padlocked doors.

"T-Dog!"

"Got it!" He ran up, yanking his bolt cutters from his side, cutting away the padlocks with ease. They all burst through, instantly laying Hershel down on the floor as Daryl slammed the door shut behind them. He pressed his back up against the doors with T-Dog, trying their best to keep the dead from getting in. Skye fell to her knees and pulled Hershel's pant leg back so they could see what they were dealing with. Maggie's sobs filled the room, mingling with Hershel's moans, as she cradled his head in her lap.

"Rick!" Skye looked up at him after seeing how much blood Hershel was losing. Rick's hands flew to his waist, working at the buckle of his belt. Whipping it from the loops on his jeans, he wrapped it just below Hershel's knee, fastening it as tightly as he could.

Skye saw his hand grasping his axe as he said, "Only one way to keep him alive!"

She barely had time to close her eyes as the sound of metal hacking through flesh, muscle and even bone filled her ears as Rick slammed the hatchet down into Hershel's leg over and over again. It took all she had not to be sick at that very moment, but there was nothing she could do to stop the shuddering that went through her body with every whack! She felt Hershel stop moving from under her hands as he slipped into shock from the tremendous amount of pain. With one final swing, Skye heard the metal strike through to the concrete, and then clank to the floor from Rick's hands. Opening her eyes, she saw Rick raise up slightly as the reality of what he just had to do settled in and the disgust now evident on his face. But as quickly as it had come, it was gone and he leaned down to examine the leg.

"He's bleeding out," he stated.

Daryl, who was now hunched to the floor behind Skye, let out a whispered warning, "Duck."

Rick and Skye let their heads fall as Daryl jumped up, pointing his weapon at the window in front of him. Skye let herself peek up ever so slightly and saw five men staring back at them through a grated window, mouths agape. All of them wore prisoner uniforms and the shortest one in the front muttered two simple words, "Holy shit!"

Skye could see the man that spoke was a white man with longish red hair and a goatee. There was also two rather large black men, a short skinny black man, and a quite frankly creepy Mexican guy with long black hair tied back from his face.

Stepping around the others, Daryl demanded, "Who the hell are you?"

"Who the hell are you?" the short black man fired.

"He's bleeding out!" Rick said again. "We gotta go back!" To Maggie, he said, "Come around here. Put pressure on the knee! Hard! Hard!"

Maggie did as he said, slightly calmer than she was before.

"Why don't you come on out of there?" Daryl urged the prisoners, who reluctantly shifted out from behind the window into the open. Skye watched as the Mexican came out first.

"What happened to him?"

"He got bit."

"Bit?" Skye watched as his hand slowly went for the pistol tucked into the waist of his pants, pulling it free.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy now," Daryl warned.

T-Dog drew his weapon on the man and in turn the man aimed his pistol, moving it between him and Daryl.

"Nobody needs to get hurt," Daryl stated.

While Rick helped Maggie watch over Hershel, Skye stepped up between T-Dog and Daryl. Glenn jumped up and pushed between them, heading straight for the room the prisoners had been hiding in. "You have any medical supplies?"

"Whoa, where do you think you're goin'?" The tall black man with the cut-off sleeves asked.

From behind them the doors lurched forward as walkers pushed up against it desperate to get it. The crowbar that T-Dog had fixed into the handles held the doors in place.

The Mexican looked from Daryl to Rick, "Who the hell are you people anyway?"

"Don't look like no rescue team," the redheaded man observed.

"If it's a rescue team you're waiting on, don't!" Rick yelled as he helped Maggie sit Hershel upright.

Skye saw Glenn clearing off a table and push past Daryl to go help him. Daryl snarled as he saw the Mexican's eyes follow her the whole way.

Skye and Glenn wheeled the table out over to Hershel.

"We need to get out of here!" Rick looked to Maggie. "One, two, three, go!" They lifted him up to the table with a thud and Glenn and Skye helped him guide the table towards the door. "T, the door!"

"Hey, don't open that!" one of the prisoners yelled out of fear.

"We got this," T-Dog replied as he yanked the crowbar from its place, giving way to the walkers on the other side. The first walker to enter the room was covered in riot gear, but T-Dog pressed it up against the wall and stabbed up through the bottom of its facemask. They wheeled Hershel from the room with Rick hollering at Daryl, who still stood behind pointing his crossbow at the men.

Once Daryl caught up, he led the group through the maze of the tunnels, following Glenn's painted arrows. "Go! Go! Go!"

Skye pushed as fast as she could with the others, trying like hell to get Hershel back to their cellblock. She could've sworn she heard something coming up from behind them, but shook it away. They kept moving on, but then she heard it again.

"Rick?" she whispered.

"Stop! Stop!" Rick motioned to the group. Once they were still, they heard it. Footsteps following them through the tunnels followed by shadows. It was the prisoners. They were being followed. "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go…"Rick hurried.

Skye knew it wouldn't be good if the prisoners caught up to them. If they found out where they were held up, they would never feel safe, especially with the creepy guy having a gun.

Finally, the reached the first gate to their block. Daryl inserted the key and pushed the door open. As they pushed Hershel along, Rick yelled, "Open the door! It's Hershel!"

Carol and the others were at the door in an instant with Carl rushing to get the door unlocked. Beth screamed out as she saw her father lying unconscious on the metal table. Daryl pulled the door shut once they were clear, locking it behind them.

While the others were in taking care of Hershel, he put one foot up on the chair at the table in the center of the room. He leaned forward, aiming his crossbow at the door, waiting for their new roommates to make themselves known.

**So… just watched the trailer for season 4 and omg… I can't wait! There are so many teasing scenes in that trailer. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you go check it out. Right. Now. Lol There are some really good Daryl scenes in it. :D I am curious as to why Beth is resting her head on his chest though. I know it's probably not a romantic thing seeing as how she's really young, but still…. **

**As per usual, let me know what you think. I have a goal of getting 100 reviews by the end of the month. **** Really close. Hope you guys like the chapter!**


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